NIST First Call for Multi-Party Threshold Schemes

Abstract

This is the NIST Threshold Call, calling for public submissions of multi-party threshold schemes, and other related crypto-systems, to support the United States’ National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in gathering a public body of reference materials unadvanced cryptography. In a threshold scheme, a reference cryptographic primitive (e.g., signing, encryption, decryption, key generation) is computed in a distributed manner, while its private/secret key is or becomes secret-shared across various parties. The threshold schemes submitted in reply to this call will be interchangeable with a reference no threshold primitive of interest, in the sense that their outputs can be used interchangeably in a subsequent operation. The primitives of interest are organized into various categories, across two classes: Class N, for selected NIST-specified primitives; and Class S, for special primitives that are not specified by NIST but are threshold friendly or have useful functional features. The scope of Class S also includes fully homomorphic encryption, zero-knowledge proofs, and auxiliary gadgets. This document specifies submission phases, and the requirements for submitting a package, including a technical specification, a reference implementation, and a report on experimental evaluation. A subsequent phase of public analysis will support the elaboration of a characterization report, which may help assess new interests beyond the cryptographic techniques currently standardized by NIST, and may include recommendations for future processes.