On 13 August 2024 the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) published its first three post-quantum cryptography standards:
- FIPS 203, ML-KEM: for agreeing encryption keys.
- FIPS 204, ML-DSA: for digital signatures.
- FIPS 205, SLH-DSA: a second, more conservative signature scheme.
They are designed to stay secure even against a large quantum computer, which could break the RSA and elliptic-curve cryptography that protects most internet traffic today.
Is this urgent?
Nobody has a quantum computer that can break today's encryption, and estimates of when one might exist vary widely. The urgency comes from a different risk: harvest now, decrypt later. An attacker who records encrypted traffic today can store it and decrypt it once the technology exists. For data that must stay confidential for ten years or more, such as medical records, financial data or state information, that risk is already real.
What is already happening
The change is arriving quietly through software updates. Major browsers and TLS libraries have started using hybrid key exchange, which combines a classical algorithm with ML-KEM, so a connection stays secure if either one holds. Operating systems and cloud providers are following.
What to do now
- Build an inventory of where you use cryptography: TLS, VPNs, SSH, code signing, stored data, hardware security modules.
- Identify data with a long confidentiality life. That is where to start.
- Keep software current. Most of the transition will come through updated libraries, not custom code.
- Ask your vendors for their post-quantum roadmap.
- Design for crypto-agility: the ability to change algorithms without rebuilding systems.
How IDX approaches it
We keep the operating systems and TLS stacks on our platforms current, so improvements such as hybrid key exchange reach your services as they become stable. For organisations planning a longer transition, our security team can help map where cryptography lives in your environment.
IDX on digital infrastructure
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