Competing for Attention: An Interview Study with Participants of Cryptography Competitions

Cryptography competitions often contribute to the development and standardization of new cryptographic schemes. They help select primitives and algorithms that solve specific cryptographic problems securely and efficiently from a list of candidate submissions. Over the last decades, several competitions held by NIST and other research and regulatory organizations resulted in standards for, e.g., symmetric and asymmetric encryption, hashing, digital signatures, and, most recently, quantum-secure cryptography. However, while these competitions fostered much technical research on the submitted schemes, little is currently known about the human aspects of their processes, how they shape the competition results, and their perceived impact on cryptography security. To investigate human aspects of cryptography competitions, we interviewed 20 experienced cryptography competition participants about their experiences, their assessment of the competitions' impact and its determinants, and their suggestions for future events. We find that competitions bring attention to a cryptography area, provide research focus and motivation, and establish trust in schemes through community scrutiny and collaboration. Our participants highlighted the criticality of transparency, fairness, and trustworthiness of the competition organizer, emphasizing a need for clear and open communication. Based on these findings, we suggest strategies for future competitions to maximize engagement and provide transparent, trustworthy processes and results. We recommend stronger moderation of social conduct on official channels to ensure fairness and prevent putting off potential contributors. We also find that substantial industry involvement and systematic feedback collection are critical. Transparent organization and evaluation elevate the competition and foster secure and well-adopted standards.