[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 113 (Tuesday, June 14, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 34451-34452]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-11729]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Institute of Standards and Technology


Announcing a Public Workshop on Cryptographic Hash

AGENCY: National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

ACTION: Notice of public workshop.

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SUMMARY: A vulnerability was recently identified in the NIST-approved 
cryptographic hash algorithm, Secure Hash Algorithm-1 (SHA-1). In 
response, NIST is announcing a public workshop to discuss this 
vulnerability, assess the status of other NIST-approved hash 
algorithms, and discuss possible near- and long-term options.

DATES: The workshop will be held on October 31 and November 1, 2005, 
from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

ADDRESSES: The workshop will be held in the Green Auditorium, Building 
101 at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, 
Gaithersburg, MD. Comments, presentations, and papers, including 
reports on preliminary work, are encouraged prior to the workshop and 
should be sent to: [email protected]. A detailed draft agenda and 
supporting documentation for the workshop will be available prior to 
the workshop at: http://www.nist.gov/hash-function. The Web address for 
workshop registration is: http://www.nist.gov/conferences/.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Additional information, when 
available, may be obtained from the Cryptographic Hash Workshop Web 
site or by contacting Sara Caswell, NIST, 100 Bureau Drive, Mail Stop 
8930, Gaithersburg, MD 20899-8930. (301) 975-4634; Fax (301) 948-1233, 
or e-mail [email protected]. Questions regarding workshop registration 
should be addressed to Teresa Vicente on (301) 975-3883 or 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: A cryptographic hash function takes a 
variable length input string and generates a fixed length output called 
the message digest. Because the message digest can serve as a digital 
fingerprint on the input, a cryptographic hash function is an important 
primitive in various security applications, such as authentication, key 
derivation, and digital signatures. One of the most commonly used hash 
functions is the NIST-approved SHA-1; however, a vulnerability has 
recently been uncovered that affects SHA-1. Specifically, a team of 
researchers reported that the SHA-1 function offered significantly less 
collision resistance than could be expected from a cryptographic hash 
function of its output size. Since all NIST-approved cryptographic hash 
functions share basic design attributes, a SHA-1 vulnerability warrants 
a reassessment of the entire family of the NIST-approved Secure Hash 
Algorithms. The Cryptographic Hash Workshop aims to solicit public 
input on how to respond to the current state of research in this area. 
Topics of specific interests include, but are not limited to, the 
following:

Security Status of Approved Hash Functions

     The latest results on the security of SHA-1;
     The latest results on the security of SHA-256 and SHA-512;
     Likely extensions to the latest results on the approved 
hash functions;
     The impacts of the latest results on different 
applications of the approved hash functions.

Short Term Actions

     How urgent are the current concerns with the approved hash 
functions?
     What changes to applications and protocols could mitigate 
potential problems?

[[Page 34452]]

     What guidance should NIST give with respect to hash 
functions and their applications?

Conditions for an Early Transition

     How can hash functions be assessed for security properties 
such as collision resistance, preimage resistance, and pseudo-
randomness?
     What conditions would warrant a transition away from one 
of the approved hash functions earlier than currently planned?

Potential Replacement Options

     Hash functions currently available for replacing one of 
the approved hash functions;
     What paradigms, other than the Merkle-Damg[aring]rd 
construction, might be appropriate to consider?
     The need for an open competition, along the lines of the 
AES competition, for designing a new hash function.

Requirements for Unkeyed Cryptographic Hash Functions

     Desirable (or undesirable) general properties of hash 
functions for security, performance, and implementability;
     Desirable (or undesirable) properties of hash functions 
for particular applications, such as digital signatures, key 
derivation, message authentication, and random number generation;
     Identifying and encouraging the proper use of hash 
functions for particular applications.
    Submissions for the workshop are requested by July 15, 2005. NIST 
will provide the accepted papers and presentations in a workshop 
handout, and post them on the workshop Web site after the workshop. 
However, no formal workshop proceedings will be published. NIST 
encourages presentations and reports on preliminary work that 
participants plan to publish elsewhere.
    Because of NIST security regulations, advance registration is 
mandatory; there will be no on-site, same-day registration. To 
register, please register via the Web at http://www.nist.gov/conferences or fax the registration form with your name, address, 
telephone, fax and e-mail address to (301) 948-2067 (Attn: 
Cryptographic Hash Workshop) by October 21, 2005. The registration fee 
will be $125.00 ($50.00 for students). Payment can be made by credit 
card, check, purchase order, or government training form. Registration 
questions should be addressed to Teresa Vicente on (301) 975-3883 or 
[email protected].

    Authority: This work is being initiated pursuant to NIST's 
responsibilities under the Federal Information Security Management 
Act (FISMA) of 2002, Pub. L. 107-347.

    Dated: June 7, 2005.
Hratch G. Semerjian,
Acting Director.
[FR Doc. 05-11729 Filed 6-13-05; 8:45 am]
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