Doubts over necessity of SHA-3 cryptography standard

[ronjor]

With a successor to Secure Hash Algorithm 2 (SHA-2) due to be crowned in the summer, questions are being asked as to whether a new cryptographic standard is really necessary. Hash functions, used to calculate short numbers from large data sets to allow the authenticity of the large data set to be verified, form the basis of many security mechanisms. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), which is responsible for the process, has moved from talking of a successor to talking of 'augmentation'.

http://www.h-online.com/security/new...d-1498071.html