CRYSTALS-Dilithium is a digital signature algorithm: it proves a message came from whoever holds a specific private key, the role RSA and ECDSA play today in TLS certificates, code signing, and document signing. Like Kyber, its security rests on lattice-based Module-LWE and Module-SIS problems rather than factoring or discrete logarithms. NIST finalized Dilithium as a federal standard in 2024 under the name ML-DSA (FIPS 204) and recommends it as the default post-quantum signature choice for most applications, with SPHINCS+ and FALCON available for cases needing different tradeoffs. Dilithium signatures and public keys are meaningfully larger than ECDSA's, which matters for constrained environments like embedded devices and high-volume certificate systems, and is one of the concrete engineering costs organizations weigh when planning migration ahead of the 2030 to 2031 federal deadlines.
Related Terms
Post-Quantum Cryptography
AlgorithmsClassical cryptographic algorithms designed to be secure against attacks from both classical and quantum computers.
CRYSTALS-Kyber
AlgorithmsThe lattice-based key encapsulation algorithm NIST standardized as ML-KEM, the post-quantum replacement for Diffie-Hellman and RSA key exchange.
Q-Day
FundamentalsThe hypothetical point at which a quantum computer breaks currently deployed public-key cryptography.