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NIST Publishes IR 8552: Requirements for Cryptographic Accordions

NIST announces the release of NIST Interagency Report (IR) 8552 Requirements for Cryptographic Accordions.

NIST announces the release of NIST Interagency Report (IR) 8552 Requirements for Cryptographic Accordions as an outgrowth of the public workshop that NIST hosted in June  2024.

A cryptographic accordion is simultaneously a variable-input-length cipher and a mode of operation of an underlying block cipher.  Accordions offer enhanced security compared to the approved block cipher modes of operation that are specified in the SP 800-38 series. This report serves as the foundation for the development of NIST-approved accordions for confidentiality and authentication applications.

Released April 11, 2025