11 February 2011

NIST RFC on FIPS 180-4 Secure Hash Standard

[Federal Register: February 11, 2011 (Volume 76, Number 29)]
[Notices]               
[Page 7817-7818]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr11fe11-41]                         

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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: Proposed180-4@nist.gov.
    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: elaine.barker@nist.gov; or 
Quynh Dang, Computer Security Division, National Institute of Standards 
and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD 20899-8930, e-mail: 
quynh.dang@nist.gov.

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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