(Pakistan Point News - 18th Jul, 2023) ABU DHABI, 18th July, 2023 (WAM) – The Technology Innovation Institute (TII), a leading global scientific research center and the applied research pillar of Abu Dhabi’s Advanced Technology Research Council (ATRC), today announced that its Cryptography Research Center (CRC) has participated in a call for Additional Post-Quantum Digital Signature Schemes (DSS) issued by the American National Institute of Standards and Technologies (NIST). CRC has contributed to the submission of digital signature proposals in its continuing effort to help fortify and fast-track the evolution of post-quantum cryptographic (PQC) digital signatures.
The call for proposals is part of NIST’s public process to define quantum-resistant public-key cryptography algorithms for standardization and diversify its portfolio of hard mathematical problems, based on structured lattices. NIST selected the first algorithms to be standardized in 2022, six years after the original public request for proposals to the PQC Standardization Process. NIST received 50 submissions in response and deemed 40 to be complete and admissible according to the submission requirements. The complete list can be found here.
To provide the best proposals, TII collaborated with researchers of leading international partner universities across North America, Asia, and Europe to develop a cryptographic suite of DSS based on well-established hard mathematical problems. The schemes are based on a variety of mathematical problems that are believed to be resistant to quantum computers. The DSS suite includes MiRitH (MinRank Problem), PERK (Permutation Kernel Problem), RYDE (Rank Syndrome Decoding Problem), LESS (Code Equivalence Problem), MIRA (MinRank Problem), Biscuit (Multivariate Quadratic Problem), as well as SQISign (Quaternion Isogeny Path Problem).
Speaking on TII’s participation in the prestigious initiative, Dr. Najwa Aaraj, Chief Researcher, Cryptography Research Center (CRC), said: “In line with our mission to discover breakthrough solutions to strengthen the future of digital societies, this contribution of several digital signatures to NIST underscores our commitment to advancing PQC. Such efforts enable us to realize our Primary goal of addressing security challenges and to continuously push the boundaries of cryptographic research. Furthermore, our continuous strategic partnerships with globally-renowned universities are a testament to our collaborative spirit and help redefine the cryptography landscape and ensure secure communication for a connected world.”
TII’s active participation in augmenting the PQC ecosystem demonstrates its expertise in the field and highlights the importance of academic synergies in establishing a holistic approach to drive secure and robust cryptographic solutions.
