[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 29 (Friday, February 11, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 7817-7818]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-3129]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Institute of Standards and Technology
[Docket No. 110107015-0497-02]
Announcing Draft Federal Information Processing Standard 180-4,
Secure Hash Standard, and Request for Comments
AGENCY: National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST),
Commerce.
ACTION: Notice and request for comments.
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SUMMARY: This notice announces the Draft Federal Information Processing
Standard (FIPS) 180-4, Secure Hash Standard (SHS), for public review
and comment. The draft standard, designated ``Draft FIPS 180-4'' is
proposed to supersede FIPS 180-3.
DATES: Comments must be received on or before May 12, 2011.
ADDRESSES: Written comments may be sent to: Chief, Computer Security
Division, Information Technology Laboratory, Attention: Comments on
Draft FIPS 180-4, 100 Bureau Drive--Stop 8930, National Institute of
Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD 20899-8930.
Electronic comments may be sent to: [email protected].
The current FIPS 180-3 and its proposed replacement, Draft FIPS
180-4, are available electronically at http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/index.html.
Comments received in response to this notice will be published
electronically at http://csrc.nist.gov/CryptoToolkit/.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Elaine Barker, Computer Security
Division, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg,
MD 20899-8930, phone: 301-975-2911, e-mail: [email protected]; or
Quynh Dang, Computer Security Division, National Institute of Standards
and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD 20899-8930, e-mail:
[email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: NIST publishes this notice to request
comments on Draft FIPS 180-4, Secure Hash Standard (SHS), which updates
FIPS 180-3, Secure Hash Standard, which was approved in October 2008.
FIPS 180-3 specifies five secure hash algorithms (SHAs): SHA-1, SHA-
224, SHA-256, SHA-384 and SHA-512. These algorithms produce 160, 224,
256, 384, and 512-bit outputs, respectively, which are called message
digests. Draft FIPS 180-4 would update FIPS 180-3 by providing a
general procedure for creating an initialization hash value,
[[Page 7818]]
adding two additional secure hash algorithms, SHA-512/224 and SHA-512/
256, to the standard, and removing a restriction that padding must be
done before hash computation begins, which was required in FIPS 180-3.
NIST proposes adding SHA-512/224 and SHA-512/256 to Draft FIPS 180-4
because they may be more efficient alternatives to SHA-256 on platforms
that are optimized for 64-bit operations. Removing the restriction on
the padding operation in the secure hash algorithms will potentially
create more flexibility and efficiency in implementing the secure hash
algorithms in many computer network applications. Examples of the
implementation of the secure hash algorithms SHA-1, SHA-224, SHA-256,
SHA-384, SHA-512, SHA-512/224 and SHA-512/256, can be found at http://www.nist.gov/CryptoToolkitExamples. If approved by the Secretary of
Commerce, Draft FIPS 180-4 will supersede FIPS 180-3.
Prior to the approval of this proposed standard by the Secretary of
Commerce, it is essential that consideration be given to the needs and
views of the public, users, the information technology industry, and
Federal, State, and local government organizations. The purpose of this
notice is to solicit such views. Interested parties may view or
download the proposed standard at http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/drafts.html.
Authority: NIST's activities to develop computer security standards
to protect Federal sensitive (unclassified) systems are undertaken
pursuant to specific responsibilities assigned to NIST in Section 5131
of the Information Technology Management Reform Act of 1996 (Pub. L.
104-106), the Computer Security Act of 1987 (Pub. L. 100-235), and
Appendix III to Office of Management and Budget Circular A-130.
Dated: February 7, 2011.
Charles H. Romine,
Acting Associate Director for Laboratory Programs.
[FR Doc. 2011-3129 Filed 2-10-11; 8:45 am]
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