Why this matters
Cryptographic algorithms break. It happened with MD5, it happened with SHA-1, and it will happen again. Most protocols require a full upgrade cycle when an algorithm is compromised — governance proposals, contract migrations, client updates.
Kairos Shield's AlgoRegistry eliminates that window. When an algorithm's health score drops below threshold, the registry can switch to a fallback in one transaction. No governance vote. No migration. No downtime.
What's new in v2
Health scoring — every registered algorithm has a live health score computed from three inputs: known vulnerability reports, computational cost trends, and collision resistance metrics. Scores are updated by authorized oracles.
Cascade fallbacks — each algorithm slot defines a priority chain. If the primary drops below threshold, the registry automatically activates the next in line. Up to 3 fallbacks per slot.
On-chain enforcement — any protocol consuming Shield's AlgoRegistry gets automatic protection. The registry emits events on every switch, and consuming contracts can subscribe to enforce the new algorithm immediately.
Test results
The v2 contract suite passes 50 tests covering normal operations, edge cases, and adversarial scenarios:
- Algorithm registration and deregistration
- Health score updates and threshold triggers
- Cascade fallback activation under various failure modes
- Emergency halt integration (INV-7)
- Gas optimization benchmarks
What's next
AlgoRegistry v2 is deployed on testnet. The next step is integration with KairosAuth's proof generation pipeline — when Shield switches an algorithm, KairosAuth's K-PPE layer should seamlessly adopt it.
Kairos Shield is the cryptographic immune system for the Kairos Lab stack.