US government launches competition for new super algorithm

The US government has launched a public competition to pick a new cryptographic hash algorithm that will become the new federal information processing standard. The National Institute of Standards and Technology Tuesday expects the evaluation process to run a minimum of three years.

The algorithm is a highly complex math formula that can be used to create digital signatures and authenticate data to ensure it hasn’t been tampered with. The current NIST federal hash standards include variations of the Secure Hash Algorithm, SHA-1, SHA-2, SHA-256, SHA-384 and SHA-512. But because cryptographic researchers have reported serious attacks against these algorithms, NIST has decided to start what’s expected to be a long process to find a new hash standard by eliciting public comment and submissions.