Purpose and Scope of IEEE P1363

P1363: Standard Specifications for Public-Key Cryptography

Scope

Specifications of common public-key cryptographic techniques, including mathematical primitives for secret value (key) derivation, public-key encryption, and digital signatures, and cryptographic schemes based on those primitives. Specifications of related cryptographic parameters, public keys and private keys.

Purpose

The transition from paper to electronic media brings with it the need for electronic privacy and authenticity. Public-key cryptography offers fundamental technology addressing this need. Many alternative public-key techniques have been proposed, each with its own benefits. However, there has been no single, comprehensive reference defining a full range of common public-key techniques covering key agreement, public-key encryption, digital signatures, and identification from several families, such as discrete logarithms, integer factorization, and elliptic curves.

It is not the purpose of this project to mandate any particular set of public-key techniques, or particular attributes of public-key techniques such as key sizes. Rather, the purpose is to provide a reference for specifications of a variety of techniques from which applications may select.

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