NIST hash function competition

The NIST hash function competition was organized by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to develop a new cryptographic hash function standard, designated as FIPS PUB 202 (Federal Information Processing Standard Publication 202). The competition began in 2007 and aimed to identify secure, efficient, and versatile hash functions that could be used in a variety of applications, including digital signatures, integrity verification, and password hashing.