The Standards for Efficient Cryptography Group (SECG), an industry consortium, was founded in 1998 to develop commercial standards that facilitate the adoption of efficient cryptography and interoperability across a wide range of computing platforms. SECG members include leading technology companies and key industry players in the information security industry.

The SECG represents the first working group that is devoted exclusively to developing standards based on Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC). Where standards already exist, SECG may promote a refined, peer-reviewed profile of the broader standard to promote adoption and interoperability. The SECG also provides guidance to governments and organizations that are developing cryptographic standards.

Why is it relevant?

Recent developments in the cryptographic world have elevated the importance of the SECG and placed urgency on its activities. These include:

• The need to use stronger public key security levels to match the security provided by AES.

• The National Security Agency’s recent decision to name ECC as the public-key cryptosystem to meet the new, stronger security requirements under its Cryptographic Modernization program.

• The introduction of the first FIPS Validation system for an ECC-based algorithm—the Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm (ECDSA)—by NIST.

How to sign up

For more information and to sign up, visit www.secg.org.