Status Report on the Second Round of the Additional Digital Signature Schemes for the NIST Post-Quantum Cryptography Standardization Process

Published

May 14, 2026

Author(s)

Dustin Moody, Gorjan Alagic, Maxime Bros, Pierre Ciadoux, Quynh Dang, Thinh Dang, John Kelsey, Jacob Lichtinger, Yi-Kai Liu, Carl Miller, Rene Peralta, Ray Perlner, Angela Robinson, Hamilton Silberg, Daniel Smith-Tone, Noah Waller

Abstract

NIST is in the process of evaluating public-key digital signature algorithms for potential standardization to protect sensitive information into the foreseeable future, including after the advent of quantum computers. Any signature scheme that is eventually selected would augment FIPS 204, Module-Lattice-Based Digital Signature Standard; FIPS 205, Stateless Hash-Based Digital Signature Standard; FIPS 186-5, Digital Signature Standard (DSS); and SP 800-208, Recommendation for Stateful Hash-Based Signature Schemes. This report describes the evaluation criteria and selection process of the Second Round of the Additional Digital Signatures for the NIST Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) Standardization Process. Based on public feedback and internal reviews of the second-round candidates, NIST selected 9 candidate algorithms to move forward to the third round of evaluation: FAEST, HAWK, MAYO, MQOM, QR-UOV, SDitH, SNOVA, SQIsign, and UOV.

Citation

NIST Interagency/Internal Report (NISTIR) - 8610

Report Number

8610

NIST Pub Series

NIST Interagency/Internal Report (NISTIR)

Pub Type

NIST Pubs

Download Paper

https://doi.org/10.6028/NIST.IR.8610

Local Download

Keywords

cryptography, digital signatures, post-quantum cryptography, quantum-resistant, quantum safe

Citation

Moody, D. , Alagic, G. , Bros, M. , Ciadoux, P. , Dang, Q. , Dang, T. , Kelsey, J. , Lichtinger, J. , Liu, Y. , Miller, C. , Peralta, R. , Perlner, R. , Robinson, A. , Silberg, H. , Smith-Tone, D. and Waller, N. (2026), Status Report on the Second Round of the Additional Digital Signature Schemes for the NIST Post-Quantum Cryptography Standardization Process, NIST Interagency/Internal Report (NISTIR), National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD, [online], https://doi.org/10.6028/NIST.IR.8610, https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=962093 (Accessed May 15, 2026)

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