Also mentioned
RSARSARivest, Shamir and AdlemanA widely used public-key algorithm for encryption and digital signatures whose security relies on the difficulty of factoring large numbers.Read the full entry (new tab), ECDHECDHElliptic Curve Diffie-HellmanElliptic Curve Diffie-Hellman, a key-exchange method using elliptic-curve mathematics to establish a shared secret with smaller keys than classical Diffie-Hellman.Read the full entry (new tab), ML-KEMML-KEMModule-Lattice-based Key Encapsulation MechanismModule-Lattice-Based Key-Encapsulation Mechanism, the NIST-standardized post-quantum KEM derived from CRYSTALS-Kyber and specified in FIPS 203.Read the full entry (new tab), ML-DSAML-DSAModule-Lattice-based Digital Signature AlgorithmModule-Lattice-Based Digital Signature Algorithm, the NIST-standardized post-quantum signature scheme derived from CRYSTALS-Dilithium and specified in FIPS 204.Read the full entry (new tab), SLH-DSASLH-DSAStateless Hash-based Digital Signature AlgorithmStateless Hash-Based Digital Signature Algorithm, the NIST-standardized signature scheme derived from SPHINCS+ and specified in FIPS 205.Read the full entry (new tab), TLSTLSTransport Layer SecurityTransport Layer Security, the protocol that encrypts and authenticates most internet traffic, including HTTPS. It uses key exchange, certificates, and symmetric encryption to protect a session.Read the full entry (new tab), FIPSFIPSFederal Information Processing StandardFederal Information Processing Standards, publicly announced standards developed by NIST for use in U.S. government computer systems, including cryptographic algorithms and modules.Read the full entry (new tab), NISTNISTNational Institute of Standards and TechnologyThe U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology, the agency that develops and publishes cryptographic standards, including the FIPS series and post-quantum algorithms.Read the full entry (new tab), CNSACNSACommercial National Security Algorithm SuiteThe Commercial National Security Algorithm Suite 2.0, the NSA's mandated algorithm set for US National Security Systems.Read the full entry (new tab), ACVPACVPAutomated Cryptographic Validation ProtocolThe Automated Cryptographic Validation Protocol, a NIST system for automatically testing that cryptographic algorithm implementations conform to their specifications.Read the full entry (new tab) are defined in the glossary.
Becoming quantum-ready is not a single purchase: it's a path. We've split it into four steps so you can start at the one that matches where you are: find your exposure, fix it with open tools, prove the result, and make sure your team can carry it forward without us.
1 · Audit: find your exposure
You can't migrate cryptography you can't see. The audit builds a cryptographic bill of materials across your code, dependencies, protocols, and infrastructure: every RSA key, every ECDH handshake, every certificate chain, and rank each finding by harvest-now-decrypt-later risk so the longest-lived secrets surface first. The deliverable is a prioritized migration roadmap, not a wall of findings.
2 · Tools: built in the open
Everything we'd want a client to run, we publish under Apache-2.0. qscan inventories quantum-vulnerable cryptography from your terminal. Our MCP server gives AI coding agents the same knowledge so they migrate code correctly. A conformance battery checks ML-KEM, ML-DSA, and SLH-DSA implementations against the official NIST (ACVP) test vectors you supply. Open tooling means our methodology is inspectable, so you don't have to take our word for it.
3 · Certify: prove it
Once the work is done, you need to show it: to auditors, customers, and regulators asking about your post-quantum posture. We issue a renewable, point-in-time certificate of readiness backed by the audit evidence. It states exactly what was assessed and against which standards, so it means something to the people who read it. Where the claim is about one implementation rather than a whole estate, that is conformance certification. The framework is open; the certificate is earned.
4 · Train: own it
Cryptography keeps moving, and the team that owns your systems should own the migration. We get your engineers fluent in post-quantum cryptography and the standards that govern it: what hybrid key exchange is, why signatures and key exchange migrate on different timelines, how to keep your stack crypto-agile so the next transition is a configuration change, not a rewrite.
Where to start
Run a scan before anything else, npx @quantakrypto/qscan ./, and you'll have a concrete picture of your exposure in minutes. Everything else builds on what it finds.
Whether you take all four steps or just the first, the goal is the same: from "we should look into this" to a system you can prove is quantum-ready. The math is settled. The migration is the work. Let's do the work.
References
- NIST: first three finalized post-quantum standards (13 Aug 2024): FIPS 203 / ML-KEM, FIPS 204 / ML-DSA, FIPS 205 / SLH-DSA.
- IETF: RFC 9954: Hybrid Key Exchange in TLS 1.3, the construction X25519MLKEM768 instantiates.
- Wikipedia: Harvest now, decrypt later (the retroactive-decryption threat), Shor's algorithm (why the break is abrupt), and Commercial National Security Algorithm Suite (CNSA 2.0's algorithm list and 2033 deadline).
- Michele Mosca, "Cybersecurity in an era with quantum computers" (IACR eprint 2015/1075): the X + Y > Z inequality this post invokes.