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2.0Tools

Standards Desk

The three standards NIST published on 13 August 2024, and the draft plan for retiring the algorithms they replace.

FIPS 203 · ML-KEM

Key encapsulation derived from CRYSTALS-Kyber, in three sizes (512, 768, 1024). Used to agree a shared secret. Read FIPS 203.

FIPS 204 · ML-DSA

Lattice signatures derived from CRYSTALS-Dilithium, in three sizes (44, 65, 87). The general-purpose replacement for ECDSA and RSA signatures. Read FIPS 204.

FIPS 205 · SLH-DSA

Hash-based signatures derived from SPHINCS+. Larger and slower, but resting only on hash functions. Read FIPS 205.

The draft transition

NIST IR 8547 (initial public draft, November 2024) proposes deprecating 112-bit RSA and elliptic-curve algorithms after 2030 and disallowing them after 2035. In March 2025 NIST also picked HQC as a second, code-based option for key encapsulation. Dates in a draft can change.