PQShield is proud to be listed on the NIST Cryptographic Module Validation Program as the first hybrid cryptographic library being validated for FIPS 140-3, the mandatory standard for the protection of sensitive or valuable data within Federal systems of the USA and Canada, which is widely followed around the world.
The PQCryptoLib is a library of modern cryptographic primitives that is designed with crypto-agility in mind to help companies transition smoothly and securely to the quantum-era, e.g., it provides support for classical and hybrid key derivation and for implementation within the TLS key schedule, supporting multiple Post-Quantum NIST finalist algorithms as well as many classical schemes.
Whether you want to ensure the highest quality implementations of cryptography IP for hardware and software, or you want us to review your transition roadmap to being Quantum-Safe, do get in touch to discuss your needs or to book a demo.
Standardization News
In every newsletter we bring you the latest insight into the change or adoption of new security standards:
NIST
The NIST Post-Quantum Cryptography standardization programme announcement has unfortunately been delayed again slightly. The official line from the team at NIST is:
"The announcement of the algorithms we will standardize is still coming very soon. The delay is not due to technical considerations but is due to some legal and procedural steps that are taking more time than we anticipated. Again, thank you for your patience"
The imminent timing is backed up in a White House statement just this week:
"The National Institute of Standards and Technology — NIST — will soon be publishing new cryptographic standards that can protect against these future attacks. But the process to transition America’s most vulnerable IT systems to these new standards will take substantial time, resources, and commitment. Accordingly, America must start the lengthy process of updating our IT infrastructure today to protect against this quantum computing threat tomorrow"
Rest assured that we will brief you all as soon as the announcement is here - both directly through our own activities and updated whitepapers, and via some new partners we will be excited to announce.
You can also be assured that all relevant finalists and alternative schemes are supported throughout our products regardless of the outcome!
These sentiments have been echoed in US Congress over the last few weeks, where the Quantum Computing Cybersecurity Preparedness Act would would give the Office of Management and Budget a year from the time NIST finalizes its post-quantum encryption standards (expected imminently) to begin prioritizing the migration of devices and systems at civilian federal agencies. One of the sponsors of the bill, Ro Khanna, is quoted as saying:
“Even though classical computers can’t break encryption now, our adversaries can still steal our data in the hopes of decrypting it later. That’s why I believe that the federal government must begin strategizing immediately about the best ways to move our encrypted data to algorithms that use post-quantum cryptography."
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Again, on 4th May 2022 the White House confirmed that President Biden signed two Executive Orders designed to position the United States to remain a global leader in technology development, and Quantum Information Science in particular - and in the process directing NIST to establish a “Migration to Post-Quantum Cryptography Project” at the National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence, alongside setting requirements for Federal agencies to update cryptographic systems.
POST-QUANTUM BRIEFINGS
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Given the breadth and depth of our Post-Quantum knowledge and involvement in the NIST and RISC-V standards, we are often asked to weigh in on these topics in the wider press. Recent articles include:
Cyber Defense Magazine recently asked our CEO and Founder, Dr Ali El Kaafarani, to explain the standards change and why companies should start preparations for the quantum threat today.
VentureBeat picked up on the White House memo and the acceleration in the US in general in preparing for what they call Y2Q, profiling PQShield in the process.
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We’ve also had a surge of requests from large enterprise customers and organizations who don’t yet have solid product requirements but need to get up to speed with the world of Post-Quantum Cryptography - so we have been busy briefing wide groups of stakeholders in webinars and presentations all across the world, with great feedback. Do get in touch if your organization would benefit from this knowledge sharing.
Team PQShield continues to go from strength to strength, with recent notable additions to the team including:
Dusan Bozilov joined our hardware team from NXP and KU Leuven
Sam Agnew came on board to build out our infrastructure team from Nomad Digital and Weill Cornell Medical
Lalit Miyan brings 23 years experience with him from organizations like Avago, NXP and Cadence
Béatrice Shelley now heads up our People Operations team, most recently having been at Worldpay
Joni Searle is now leading our Finance team, joining us from Birchbox
We also recently opened our London office in Moorgate, adding to our operational hubs in Oxford, Eindhoven, Paris, Iowa and New York.
In addition, Intralink, the specialists in East Asia business development, have joined team PQShield this month to represent our interests in Japan and deliver our first steps in this important region.
Events News
Where has the team been speaking or exhibiting? Where will we be next?
It was lovely to see people back together in-person during our recent sponsorships of COSADE at KU Leuven in Belgium and Real World Crypto in Amsterdam last month.
Our visiting teams enjoyed catching up with and updating industry colleagues on the PQShield journey - all eager for NIST's announcement to drop!
Our CEO & Founder, Dr Ali El Kaafarani, will take part in a panel discussing PQC and QKD alongside Dr Lilly Chen (NIST), Peter Bordow (Wells Fargo) and Dr Itan Barmes (Deloitte) at The Economist Commercialising Quantum event on 19th May.
The session is available to join remotely, and you can register for a free pass now.
RSA Conference is rapidly approaching and we’re excited to be exhibiting in-person and with partners.
Will we see you there on June 6th-9th?
Use our promo code 52EPQSHLDXP and register here to get your free expo pass.
