NOTICE: Due to a lapse in annual appropriations, most of this website is not being updated. Learn more.

Form submissions will still be accepted but will not receive responses at this time. Sections of this site for programs using non-appropriated funds (such as NVLAP) or those that are excepted from the shutdown (such as CHIPS and NVD) will continue to be updated.

U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Information Technology / Cybersecurity and privacy

Cryptography

Search Publications

Search Title, Abstract, Conference, Citation, Keyword or Author
  • Published Date
Displaying 101 - 125 of 132

Improved Cryptanalysis of HFEv- via Projection

April 1, 2018
Author(s)
Jintai Ding, Ray Perlner, Albrecht R. Petzoldt, Daniel Smith-Tone
The HFEv- signature scheme is one of the most studied multivariate schemes and one of the major candidates for the upcoming standardization of post-quantum digital signature schemes. In this paper, we propose three new attack strategies against HFEv-, each

Quantifying the post-quantum security-margin of popular block ciphers

March 27, 2018
Author(s)
Yi-Kai Liu, Brittanney Amento-Adelmann, Markus Grassl, Brandon Langenberg, Eddie Schoute, Rainer Steinwandt
Mounting an exhaustive key search against a block cipher with Grover's algorithm requires the implementation of the target cipher on a quantum computer. We report quantum circuits and resource bounds for various block ciphers with different design

Local Randomness: Examples and Application

March 19, 2018
Author(s)
Honghao Fu, Carl Miller
When two players achieve a superclassical score at a nonlocal game, their outputs must contain intrinsic randomness. This fact has many useful implications for quantum cryptography. Recently it has been observed (C. Miller, Y. Shi, Quant. Inf. & Comp. 17

Securing Tomorrow's Information through Post-Quantum Cryptography

February 27, 2018
Author(s)
Dustin Moody, Larry Feldman, Gregory A. Witte
In recent years, there has been a substantial amount of research on quantum computers - machines that exploit quantum mechanical phenomena to solve mathematical problems that are difficult or intractable for conventional computers. If large-scale quantum

Security Considerations for Code Signing

January 26, 2018
Author(s)
David Cooper, Andrew Regenscheid, Murugiah Souppaya
A wide range of software products (also known as code)--including firmware, operating systems, mobile applications, and application container images--must be distributed and updated in a secure and automatic way to prevent forgery and tampering. Digitally

Recommendation for the Entropy Sources Used for Random Bit Generation

January 10, 2018
Author(s)
Meltem Sonmez Turan, Elaine B. Barker, John M. Kelsey, Kerry A. McKay, Mary L. Baish, Mike Boyle
This Recommendation specifies the design principles and requirements for the entropy sources used by Random Bit Generators, and the tests for the validation of entropy sources. These entropy sources are intended to be combined with Deterministic Random Bit

Psst, Can you Keep a Secret?

January 2, 2018
Author(s)
Apostol T. Vassilev, Nicky W. Mouha, Luis T. A. N. Brandao
The security of encrypted data depends not only on the theoretical properties of cryptographic primitives but also on the robustness of their implementations in software and hardware. Threshold cryptography introduces a computational paradigm that enables

Total Break of the SRP Encryption Scheme

December 23, 2017
Author(s)
Ray A. Perlner, Albrecht R. Petzoldt, Daniel C. Smith-Tone
Multivariate Public Key Cryptography (MPKC) is one of the main candidates for secure communication in a post-quantum era. Recently, Yasuda and Sakurai proposed in [7] a new multivariate encryption scheme called SRP, which combines the Square encryption

Guidance on the TDEA Block Ciphers

November 27, 2017
Author(s)
Elaine B. Barker, Larry Feldman, Gregory A. Witte
This bulletin summarizes the information found in NIST SP 800-67, Rev. 2, Recommendation for the Triple Data Encryption Algorithm (TDEA) Block Cipher. This bulletin offers an overview of the TDEA block cipher along with usage guidance and NIST’s plans.

Recommendation for the Triple Data Encryption Algorithm (TDEA) Block Cipher

November 17, 2017
Author(s)
Elaine B. Barker, Nicky W. Mouha
This publication specifies the Triple Data Encryption Algorithm (TDEA), including its primary component cryptographic engine, the Data Encryption Algorithm (DEA). TDEA is intended to be used with a Special Publication (SP) 800-38-series-compliant mode of

The Iterated Random Function Problem

November 1, 2017
Author(s)
Ritam Bhaumik, Nilanjan Datta, Avijit Dutta, Nicky Mouha, Mrudil Nandi
At CRYPTO 2015, Minaud and Seurin introduced and studied the iterated random permutation problem, which is to distinguish the r-th iterate of a random permutation from a random permutation. In this paper, we study the closely related iterated random

NIST Guidance on Application Container Security

October 25, 2017
Author(s)
Ramaswamy Chandramouli, Murugiah Souppaya, Karen Scarfone
This bulletin summarizes the information found in NIST SP 800-190, Application Container Security Guide and NISTIR 8176, Security Assurance Requirements for Linux Application Container Deployments. The bulletin offers an overview of application container

Application Container Security Guide

September 25, 2017
Author(s)
Murugiah P. Souppaya, John Morello, Karen Scarfone
Application container technologies, also known as containers, are a form of operating system virtualization combined with application software packaging. Containers provide a portable, reusable, and automatable way to package and run applications. This

Cryptography Standards in Quantum Time - New wine in old wineskin?

August 17, 2017
Author(s)
Lidong Chen
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) of the U.S. Government announced a call for proposals for quantum-resistant public-key cryptographic algorithms on December 15, 2016. The scope of the call covers all public-key cryptographic

HMFEv - An Efficient Multivariate Signature Scheme

June 28, 2017
Author(s)
Albrecht R. Petzoldt, Ming-Shing Chen, Jintai Ding, Bo-Yin Yang
Multivariate Cryptography, as one of the main candidates for establishing post-quantum cryptosystems, provides strong, efficient and well-understood digital signature schemes such as UOV, Rainbow, and Gui. While Gui provides very short signatures, it is

Randomness in nonlocal games between mistrustful players

June 15, 2017
Author(s)
Carl A. Miller, Yaoyun Shi
If two quantum players at a nonlocal game G achieve a superclassical score, then their measurement outcomes must be at least partially random from the perspective of any third player. This is the basis for device-independent quantum cryptography. In this

An Updated Security Analysis of PFLASH

June 4, 2017
Author(s)
Ryann Cartor, Daniel Smith-Tone
One application in post-quantum cryptography that appears especially difficult is security for low-power or no-power devices. One of the early champions in this arena was SFLASH, which was recommended by NESSIE for implementation in smart cards due to its

Key Recovery Attack for All Parameters of HFE-

June 4, 2017
Author(s)
Jeremy Vates, Daniel Smith-Tone
Recently, by an interesting confluence, multivariate schemes with the minus modifier have received attention as candidates for multivariate encryption. Among these candidates is the twenty year old HFE – scheme originally envisioned as a possible candidate

Key Recovery Attack for ZHFE

June 4, 2017
Author(s)
Daniel Cabarcas, Daniel Smith-Tone, Javier A. Verbel
At PQCRYPTO 2014, Porras, Baena and Ding introduced ZHFE, an interesting new technique for multivariate post-quantum encryption. The scheme is a generalization of HFE in which a single low degree polynomial in the central map is replaced by a pair of high

Full Disk Encryption: Bridging Theory and Practice

February 3, 2017
Author(s)
Louiza Khati, Nicky Mouha, Damien Vergnaud
We revisit the problem of Full Disk Encryption (FDE), which refers to the encryption of each sector of a disk volume. In the context of FDE, it is assumed that there is no space to store additional data, such as an IV (Initialization Vector) or a MAC

On the Differential Security of the HFEv - Signature Primitive

February 4, 2016
Author(s)
Ryann Cartor, Ryan Gipson, Daniel Smith-Tone, Jeremy Vates
Multivariate Public Key Cryptography (MPKC) is one of the most attractive post-quantum options for digital signatures in a wide array of applications. The history of multivariate signature schemes is tumultuous, however, and solid security arguments are
Was this page helpful?