Cybercriminals are constantly changing their methods of attack, making their attempts more difficult to detect. In the security space, organizations must be prepared to support what’s known as “crypto-agility”, to evolve and respond to these changing threats. Plus, organizations must consider leveraging crypto agility before, not after, cybercriminals are able to leverage quantum computing.
NIST and other regulatory agencies have predicted that quantum computers will be able to break current cryptographic security as early as 2027 and have been advising organizations to begin planning their migration to quantum safe cryptography, with the most recent announcement from NIST on the three published quantum ready cryptographic standards.
But 2030 is currently the consensus date for quantum preparedness. And while 2030 may seem like the very distant future, why the pressure to start now? NIST has found that historically, it has taken almost 20 years to deploy our modern public key cryptography infrastructure. 2030 is far less than 20 years away, so preparing security systems now is highly recommended to be prepared for the post-quantum era. Being able to quickly switch cryptographic security systems allows organizations to be crypto-agile, which will be critical when the time comes to fully make the switch to quantum safe cryptography.
What does it mean to be crypto-agile?
Crypto agility means the ability to switch between cryptographic algorithms without disturbing your systems’ infrastructure. As discussed above, with the constantly evolving threat landscape, being able to switch between cryptographic algorithms allows organizations to be proactive against these threats and ensure their data is protected.
Why is crypto-agility important with quantum computing
With a predicted date for when quantum computers will be able to break current cryptographic security, it will be important for organizations to be ready before that time comes, so they can quickly switch to quantum safe cryptography when they need to. If they haven’t done so already, organizations should start the phase of experimenting with quantum safe cryptography and future-proofing their security by becoming crypto-agile.
Prepare for the Future of Cybersecurity: InfoSec's Guide to Post-Quantum Readiness
How you can start the process of preparing for quantum computing
Preparing for the move to quantum safe cryptography takes a multi-layer approach: diagnosis, planning and executing. Diagnosis: take an inventory of all machine identities, the protocols, and the applications that use them. Migration: plan, prioritize and test migration for critical machine identities, and all associated applications, to the recommended NIST quantum-resistant cryptographic algorithms. Execute: The final phase is deciding the timing of when to execute the migration of critical machine identities and associated applications. Since planning and testing has already been done, crypto agility has been achieved and this should be a smooth process.
CodeSign Protect is equipped to help organizations start the planning and testing phases today. Empowering teams with the ability to experiment with quantum safe cryptography algorithms, CodeSign Protect can help prepare for the process of moving to quantum safe cryptography and become more crypto-agile. Experimenting with quantum safe cryptography is exciting for a multitude of reasons; future-proof security combined with cutting-edge research equals early adoption advantage.
- Quantum safe cryptography algorithms can withstand attacks from quantum computers, ensuring your data remains secure in the future
- Quantum safe cryptography represents the interdisciplinary research of cryptography and quantum computing
- Early adoption of quantum safe cryptography signing algorithms is a significant advantage that positions customer organizations (i.e., Enterprises) at the forefront of innovative security solutions
Schedule a free Code Signing Maturity Assessment to help start the process of understanding where your organization stands with code signing and best practices for improvement.