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Security Fundamentals & Crypto · Intermediate

Secure Hash Algorithm 3 (SHA-3)

NIST hash standard based on the Keccak sponge construction, standardized in FIPS 202.

Definition

SHA-3 was selected through a public competition and published in 2015 as an alternative to SHA-2 with a completely different internal design. It is immune to length-extension attacks. FIPS 202 also defines the SHAKE128 and SHAKE256 extendable-output functions, used in post-quantum schemes such as ML-KEM and ML-DSA.

Example

ML-KEM uses SHA3-256, SHA3-512, and SHAKE functions internally.

Exam tip

SHA-3 is not a fix for broken SHA-2; it is a structurally different backup standard.

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