Microsoft started rolling out Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 25324 to the Windows Insiders who are in the Canary Channel. The latest build adds a few new improvements to the Widgets Board, added USB4 Settings Page, Unsafe password copy and paste warnings, and SHA-3 Support to Windows 11.

 

Windows 11 Build 25324 has introduced support for the SHA-3 family, offering improved security for users. This update is a significant step forward in protecting sensitive data and preventing unauthorized access. In this article, we will explore the benefits of SHA-3 and how it works in Windows 11 Build 25324.

 

Windows 11 Build 25324 adds support for the SHA-3 family
Windows 11 Build 25324 adds support for the SHA-3 family

 

SHA-3 (Secure Hash Algorithm 3) is a cryptographic hash function that generates a unique fixed-size output, called a hash, from arbitrary input data of any size. It was developed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and announced in 2015. SHA-3 is designed to offer better security and resistance against cryptographic attacks compared to its predecessors, SHA-1 and SHA-2. It is based on a completely new design and construction, unlike SHA-1 and SHA-2 which share similar characteristics.

 

 

Microsoft has included support for the SHA-3 family of hash functions and SHA-3-derived functions starting with Windows 11 Canary Build 25324. (SHAKE, cSHAKE, KMAC). The National Institute of Standards and Technology's most recent hash function standard is the SHA-3 family of algorithms (NIST). The Windows CNG library has enabled support for these features:

 

  • SHA3-256, SHA3-384, and SHA3-512 are supported SHA-3 hash functions. It is not supported to use SHA3-224.
  • HMAC-SHA3-256, HMAC-SHA3-384, and HMAC-SHA3-512 are SHA-3 HMAC algorithms that are supported.
  • Algorithms derived from SHA-3 that are supported include KMAC, cSHAKE128, cSHAKE256, and extendable-output functions (XOF) (SHAKE128, SHAKE256) (KMAC128, KMAC256, KMACXOF128, KMACXOF256).

 

We are beginning to roll this out, so the experience isn’t available to all Insiders in the Canary Channel just yet as we plan to monitor feedback and see how it lands before pushing it out to everyone, says Microsoft.

 

Please keep in mind that builds published to the Canary Channel are "hot off the presses", thus Microsoft will provide only basic documentation for builds flighted to the Canary Channel (no known bugs, for example), and will update a blog entry if new features are made available in a build. Additionally, this release has a few new features and updates to the document, just like the last Canary Channel build.

 


Sunil Verma

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