NIST publishes the first post-quantum encryption standards

Why it matters

They give governments and companies finished, tested replacements for the public-key encryption that a large quantum computer could break, starting the switch to post-quantum cryptography.

Related

• NIST picks the first four quantum-resistant encryption algorithms (Jul 5, 2022)
• Google researcher estimates RSA-2048 could be broken with under a million qubits (May 2025)

Sources (3)

• NIST NIST Releases First 3 Finalized Post-Quantum Encryption Standards
  Primary sourceAug 13, 2024

  “The U.S. Department of Commerce's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has finalized its principal set of encryption algorithms designed to withstand cyberattacks from a quantum computer.”

• Federal Register (US Government Publishing Office) Announcing Issuance of Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) FIPS 203, FIPS 204 and FIPS 205
  Primary sourceAug 14, 2024

  “This notice announces the Secretary of Commerce's approval of three Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS): FIPS 203, Module-Lattice-Based Key-Encapsulation Mechanism Standard; FIPS 204, Module-Lattice-Based Digital Signature Standard; and FIPS 205, Stateless Hash-Based Digital Signature Standard.”

• IEEE Spectrum NIST Announces Post-Quantum Cryptography Standards
  Independent coverageAug 13, 2024

  “Today, the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) announced the standardization of three post-quantum cryptography encryption schemes.”