2 Contents of this edition
2.1 NIST standardisation process
- Correction of the incorrect KATs for ML-KEM and ML-DSA by NIST in the ACVP-Server repository.
- The NIST has published the OIDs for ML-KEM, ML-DSA and SLH-DSA. The OIDs for the "prehash" variants of ML-DSA and SLH-DSA are still pending publication.
2.2 Learning PQC
- A free course has been published on YouTube aiming to familiarise users with post-quantum cryptography and the ML-KEM and ML-DSA standards, understanding the technical details involved in defining the FIPS 203 and FIPS 204 standards. It is taught by Alfred Menezes, a world-renowned cryptographer.
- An article has been published to understand all the technical details of lattice-based post-quantum cryptography, focusing on the ML-KEM and ML-DSA algorithms.
- Resource compilation for learning and familiarising oneself with PQC. Includes code snippets to understand implementation and employs numerous cryptographic libraries in various programming languages.
2.3 Adoption of PQC
- Posts from the NCSC in the UK and companies such as Cloudflare and Nokia on the new post-quantum standards have been published.
- Collaboration announced between PQShield and SiFive to provide post-quantum cryptography in RISC-V.
- Article published by the Post-Quantum Cryptography Coalition (PQCC) on PQC requirements imposed by various governmental organisations. The requirements of the USA (NIST and NSA), UK (NCSC), Canada (CCCS), Germany (BSI), and France (ANSSI), among others, are analysed.
- ML-KEM update to the hybrid draft standard X-Wing combining ML-KEM-768 with X25519.
- Changes published to FIPS 203 in the draft standard draft-cfrg-schwabe-kyber implementing ML-KEM in Python.
- Updated standard draft of IKEv2 to FIPS 203.
- Google Chrome will replace Kyber with ML-KEM from version 131 (November 2024) in the hybrid key exchange of TLS v1.3.
2.4 PQC Tutorials
2.5 PQC Libraries
The following cryptographic libraries have implemented PQC standards:
- The reference implementations of Kyber and Dilithium in C implement the FIPS 203 and FIPS 204 standards.
- liboqs implements the FIPS 203 standard in C. It has bindings for other languages like Go, Rust, Python, etc., which have yet to be updated to support the standards.
- mlkem768 implements ML-KEM-768 following the FIPS 203 standard in Go. It also implements the draft standard X-Wing.
- circl, developed by Cloudflare and written in Go, implements the FIPS 203 standard.
- @noble/post-quantum implements the FIPS 203, FIPS 204 and FIPS 205 standards in TypeScript.
- leancrypto, written in C, implements the FIPS 203 and FIPS 204 standards.
- libcrux implements the FIPS 203 and FIPS 204 standards in Rust. The first standard has been formally verified and the second is in process.
- BoringSSL implements the FIPS 203 and FIPS 204 standards in C.
- SymCrypt, Microsoft's library, has implemented the PQC algorithms ML-KEM and ML-DSA along with XMSS, standardised in RFC 8391 and NIST SP 800-208.
2.6 PQC Publications and Research
- Research article published on the security of Signal's PQC protocol called PQXDH.
- Post-quantum cryptography guide for engineers has been published for embedded systems.
- Research article published stating that KEMs with the security notion of IND-CPA would suffice for post-quantum TLS 1.3, as opposed to the stronger notion of IND-CCA KEMs considered in the NIST competition.
- Article published analysing the formal verification of Apple's PQC protocol PQ3 in iMessage.
2.7 PQC Conferences
- The ICMC 2024 conference took place from the 17th to the 20th of September in San José, USA. The 17th was dedicated to the Post-Quantum Cyber Day, featuring world-renowned experts, including NIST personnel who provided updates on the status of standards. On the 19th and 20th, the conference dedicated a track to post-quantum cryptography.
- The PQC seminars of NIST returned on the 17th of September with four talks: three from the Round 4 candidates (Classic McEliece, HQC, and BIKE) and another talk on some Round 1 candidates of the new signature standardisation process (MAYO – UOV).
- The 6th NIST standardisation conference will be held in September 2025. The tentative date is the 24th to 26th of September, but it is not confirmed and may be subject to change.