Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 104 / Wednesday, May 30, 2001 / Notices 29287

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Institutes of Standards and

Technology

[Docket No. 001214352–0352–01]

RIN 0693–AB34

Announcing Draft Federal Information

Processing Standards (FIPS) 180–2,

Secure Hash Standard, and Request

for Comments

AGENCY: National Institutes of Standards

and Technology (NIST), Commerce.

ACTION: Notice, request for comments.

SUMMARY: This notice announces Draft

Federal Information Processing

Standard (FIPS) 180–2, Secure Hash

Standard (SHS), for public review and

comment. The draft standard,

designated ‘‘Draft FIPS 180–2,’’ is

proposed to supersede FIPS 180–1.

Published in 1992, FIPS 180–1

specified that the standard be reviewed

within five years. The standard specifies

a secure hash algorithm, designated

SHA–1, which produces a 160-bit

output called a message digest. To

provide for comparability with the

anticipated increase in security to be

afforded by the use of the Advanced

Encryption Standard (currently under

development), NIST is proposing the

expansion of the hash standard to

include additional algorithms that

produce a 256-bit, 384-bit, and 512-bit

message digest. The proposed standard

is available at http://www.nist.gov/sha.

Prior to the submission of this

proposed standard to the Secretary of

Commerce for review and approval, it is

essential that consideration is given to

the needs and views of the public, users,

the information technology industry,

and Federal, State, and local

government organizations. The purpose

of this notice is to solicit such views.

DATES: Comments must be received on

or before August 28, 20001.

ADDRESSES: Written comments may be

sent to: Chief, Computer Security

Division, Information Technology

Laboratory, Attention: Comments on

Draft FIPS 180–2, 100 Bureau Drive,

Stop 8930, National Institute of

Standards and Technology,

Gaithersburg, MD 20899–8930.

Electronic Comments may be sent to:

Proposed 180–2@nist.gov.

The current FIPS 180–1 and its

proposed replacement, Draft FIPS 180–

2, are available electronically at http://

www.nist.gov/sha.

Comments received in response to

this notice will be published

electronically at http://www.nist.gov/

sha.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Elaine Barker, Computer Security

Division, National Institutes of

Standards and Technology,

Gaithersburg, MD 20899–8930,

telephone (301) 975–2911, e-mail:

elaine.barker@nist.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: FIPS 180–

1, Secure Hash Standard, issued in

1995, specifies a secure has algorithm,

designated SHA–1, for computing a

condensed representation of a message

or a data file. When a data is input, the

SHA–1 produces a 160-bit output called

a message digest. The message digest

can then be used as input to a digital

signature algorithm that generates or

verifies the digital signature for a

message. Other uses of a message digest

include the generation of random

numbers and keyed hash message

authentication codes.

As technology advances, the input

parameters used by signature algorithms

must be increased to provide adequate

security. One of these inputs is the

message digest. Therefore, as part of the

five-year review of the hash standard,

Draft FIPS 180–2 proposed additional

has algorithms with outputs of 256-bit,

384-bit and 512-bits. The additional

algorithms will produce outputs that

will provide security comparable to that

projected for the Advanced Encryption

Standard.

Authority: NIST’s activities to develop

computer security standards to protect

Federal sensitive (unclassified) systems are

undertaken pursuant to specific

responsibilities assigned to NIST in Section

5131 of the Information Technology

Management Reform Act of 1996 (P.L. 104–

106), the Computer Security Act of 1987 (P.L.

100–235), and Appendix III to Office of

Management and Budget Circular A–130.

Executive Order 12866: This notice

has been determined to be nonsignificant for the purposes of Executive

Order 12866.

Dated: May 21, 2001.

Karen H. Brown,

Acting Director, NIST.

[FR Doc. 01–13522 Filed 5–29–01; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3510–CN–M

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric

Administration

[I.D. 050701A]

Small Takes of Marine Mammals

Incidental to Specified Activities;

Shallow-Water Hazard Activities in the

Beaufort Sea

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),

Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of receipt of application

and proposed authorization for a small

take exemption; request for comments.

SUMMARY: NMFS has received a request

from BP Exploration (Alaska), Inc;

ExxonMobil Production Co, a division

of Exxon Mobil Corporation; and

Phillips Alaska, Inc. (BP/EM/PAI),

working as members of a study team

referred to in their application as the

North American Natural Gas Pipeline

Group (NANGPG), for an authorization

to take small numbers of marine

mammals by harassment incidental to

conducting shallow hazard surveys in

the central and eastern Alaskan Beaufort

Sea. Under the Marine Mammal

Protection Act (MMPA), NMFS is

requesting comments on its proposal to

authorize BP/EM/PAI to incidentally

take, by harassment, small numbers of

bowhead whales and other marine

mammals in the U.S. Beaufort Sea

during the open water period of 2001.

DATES: Comments and information must

be received no later than June 29, 2001.

ADDRESSES: Comments on the

application should be addressed to

Donna Wieting, Chief, Marine Mammal

Conservation Division, Office of

Protected Resources, NMFS, 1315 EastWest Highway, Silver Spring, MD

20910–3225. A copy of the application,

and a list of references used in this

document may be obtained by writing to

this address or by telephoning one of

the contacts listed here.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Kenneth R. Hollingshead, (301) 713–

2055, ext 128; Brad Smith, (907) 271–

5006.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

Sections 101(a)(5)(A) and (D) of the

MMPA (16 U.S.C. 1361 et seq.) direct

the Secretary of Commerce to allow,

upon request, the incidental, but not

intentional taking of small numbers of

marine mammals by U.S. citizens who

engage in a specified activity (other than

commercial fishing) within a specified