NIST Announces Post Quantum Encryption Competition Winners

Kevin Townsend | Security Week | 6 July 2022

QuSecure is excited about the mention in the article from Security Week, written by Kevin Townsend.

Highlights of the article include:

• The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) announced July 5, 2022, the first group of four encryption tools designed to tackle the looming threat of quantum computer crypto cracking capabilities.
• The need for post-quantum cryptography (aka quantum-resistant encryption) is driven by the increasing belief that quantum computers with enough power to crack current PKI cryptography (used to secure communications today) will be available within five to ten years.
• It is believed that adversaries, including nation-states, are already involved in the ‘harvest now, decrypt later’ campaign, where sensitive data and communications are being stolen and stored until quantum decryption is available,

QuSecure is especially excited about the June 29th announcement, being awarded the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase III Federal Government procurement contract for PQC solutions – making it effectively a recommended product for federal agencies while remaining available to private industry. QuSecure’s QuProtect product can work with any algorithm, both classical and quantum-resistant, conforming to NIST’s purpose of providing options. Existing classical algorithms can be given post-quantum resiliency by QuProtect, while newer post-quantum algorithms can be incorporated, used, and then swapped for alternative algorithms with ease.

“We have seen NIST shorten the timeline for their decision on quantum resilient cryptography from 2024 to July 5th,” comments Skip Sanzeri, co-founder and COO of QuSecure. “Pushing up the timeline is a direct response to the growing urgency of the quantum threat. Both the White House’s executive memos this year and the accelerated NIST standardization, combined with the international race to quantum advantage, underscore the importance of both government and enterprise starting this network upgrade cycle immediately.”

FULL ARTICLE