thinQmaster Virtual testing partner Adaptive practice exams that find your weak spots and drill them. Every answer explained. From $69
Enroll

thinQmaster

Find your exam

Five questions free, before you decide.

Step 1 · choose a vendor

In one of our camps? Your practice exams come with the tuition — they are on your study page already.

Security Fundamentals & Crypto · Advanced

Module-Lattice-Based Digital Signature Algorithm (ML-DSA)

NIST post-quantum digital signature standard (FIPS 204), derived from CRYSTALS-Dilithium.

Definition

ML-DSA is the primary general-purpose PQC signature scheme, with ML-DSA-44, ML-DSA-65, and ML-DSA-87 parameter sets. Signatures and keys are much larger than ECDSA (signatures roughly 2.4-4.6 KB), which affects certificate chains and protocols. CNSA 2.0 specifies ML-DSA-87.

Example

A PKI pilot issues ML-DSA-65 certificates to test the impact of larger chains on TLS handshakes.

Exam tip

ML-DSA is the default PQC signature; SLH-DSA is the conservative hash-based backup.

Related terms