[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 44 (Tuesday, March 6, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 13294-13295]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-5400]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Institute of Standards and Technology

[Docket No.: 110107015-1402-02]


Announcing Approval of Federal Information Processing Standard 
(FIPS) Publication 180-4, Secure Hash Standard (SHS); a Revision of 
FIPS 180-3

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

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: This notice announces the Secretary of Commerce's approval of 
Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) Publication 180-4, 
Secure Hash Standard (SHS). FIPS 180-4 updates FIPS 180-3 by providing 
a general procedure for creating an initialization value, adding two 
additional secure hash algorithms to the Standard: SHA-512/224 and SHA-
512/256 and removing a restriction that padding must be done before 
hash computation begins, which was required in FIPS 180-3.

DATES: The approved Standard is effective as of March 6, 2012.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Elaine Barker, (301) 975-2911, 
National Institute of Standards and Technology, 100 Bureau Drive, Mail 
Stop 8930, Gaithersburg, MD 20899-8930, email: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#dfbab3beb6b1baf1bdbeadb4baad9fb1b6acabf1b8b0a9"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="751019141c1b105b1714071e1007351b1c06015b121a03">[email protected]</span></a>, 
or Quynh Dang, (301) 975-3610, email: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#4534303c2b2d6b21242b22052b2c36316b222a33"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="3c4d4945525412585d525b7c52554f48125b534a">[email protected]</span></a>.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This notice announces the Secretary of 
Commerce's approval of Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) 
Publication 180-4, Secure Hash Standard (SHS). FIPS 180-4 updates FIPS 
180-3 by providing a general procedure for creating an initialization 
value, adding two additional secure hash algorithms to the Standard: 
SHA-512/224 and SHA-512/256, and removing a restriction that padding 
must be done before hash computation begins, which was required in FIPS 
180-3. SHA-512/224 and SHA-512/256 may be more efficient alternatives 
to SHA-224 and SHA-256 respectively, on platforms that are optimized 
for 64-bit operations. Removing the restriction on the padding 
operation in the secure hash algorithms will potentially allow more 
flexibility and efficiency in implementing the secure hash algorithms 
in many computer network applications.
    On February 11, 2011, NIST published a notice in the Federal 
Register (76 FR 7817) announcing the availability of draft FIPS 180-4, 
and soliciting comments on the draft standard from the public, research 
communities, manufacturers, voluntary standards organizations and 
Federal, State and local government organizations. Comments were 
received from two corporations and one individual. The following is a 
summary of the specific comments and NIST's responses to them:
    Comment: One commenter requested NIST to provide more detail for 
the calculation of the initialization values for SHA-512/224 and SHA-
512/256, especially for the variable t.
    Response: Clarification of the variable ``t'' has been provided in 
the FIPS. Sufficient examples are provided at the Web site: http://csrc.nist.gov/groups/ST/toolkit/examples.html, as indicated in the 
APPENDIX A of the FIPS.
    Comment: One commenter indicated that the notation for SHA-512 
(``SHA-512/t'') and SHA-512 (``SHA-512/256'') needs to be further 
defined, including a definition for ASCII strings.
    Response: Clarification of the variable ``t'' was provided in 
Section 5.3.6 of the FIPS, along with further clarification of the 
input string to the SHA-512 hash function.
    Comment: One commenter requested NIST to define SHA-512/160 as an 
approved hash algorithm.
    Response: NIST believes that there is not much demand for a new 
SHA-512-based hash algorithm with 160-bit hash output at this time, 
since generating digital signatures using 160-bit hash values will be 
not approved after the year 2013.
    FIPS 180-4 is available electronically from the NIST Web site at: 
http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/PubsFIPS.html.

    Authority:  In accordance with the Information Technology 
Management Reform

[[Page 13295]]

Act of 1996 (Pub. L. 104-106) and the Federal Information Security 
Management Act (FISMA) of 2002 (Pub. L. 107-347), the Secretary of 
Commerce is authorized to approve Federal Information Processing 
Standards (FIPS). NIST activities to develop computer security 
standards to protect Federal sensitive (unclassified) information 
systems are undertaken pursuant to specific responsibilities 
assigned to NIST by section 20 of the National Institute of 
Standards and Technology Act (15 U.S.C. 278g-3), as amended by 
section 303 of the Federal Information Security Management Act of 
2002.

    Dated: March 1, 2012.
Willie E. May,
Associate Director for Laboratory Programs.
[FR Doc. 2012-5400 Filed 3-5-12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-13-P


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