NIST Announces New Post-Quantum Cryptography Standards

Craweled on Oct. 3, 2024, 12:41 p.m.

NIST Announces New Post-Quantum Cryptography Standards

After nearly eight years of meticulous work and rigorous validation, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST ) has released the first set of standards for Post-Quantum Cryptography . This milestone marks the beginning of a transformative era in cybersecurity, as it paves the way for governments and organizations to upgrade and harden their cryptographic security against advanced quantum and AI hybrid attacks.

The Time to Act is Now: Transition to Post-Quantum Security

With the new standards officially in place, it’s time to transition to post-quantum security. Major technology vendors including Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Zoom, and Palo Alto Networks have already begun upgrading their platforms to be quantum-safe, offering a head start in securing data and communications. However, IT infrastructure is a complex amalgamation of public, private, and hybrid clouds; commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) software, open-source solutions, and custom applications; servers, desktops, mobile phones, and IoT/embedded devices. All these components will need Post-Quantum cryptographic security upgrades.

With new standards officially released, Cloud, COTS, and vendor-supported solutions will start or continue their cryptographic upgrade cycles but what about Open Source, IoT/Embedded, and Custom solutions? For those cases, Quantropi is excited to announce that QiSpace supports the new NIST Post Quantum Cryptography Standards – giving you a reliable, supported path to upgrade your Open Source, IoT/Embedded, and Custom solutions.

Why Choose Quantropi’s QiSpace ?

Here are five compelling reasons to use Quantropi QiSpace as your source for NIST PQC libraries:

Reason 1: TrUE Cryptographic Security

The QiSpace platform’s modular cryptographic libraries and quantum entropy services provides “TrUE” cryptographic security through:

Trust : Delivered through our asymmetric algorithm/PQC libraries, including both NIST PQC and Quantropi’s novel algorithms.

Uncertainty : Achieved with high-performance quantum-safe symmetric encryption (QEEP) from Quantropi that can be used standalone or in a FIPS-compliant “double wrap” with AES.

Entropy : Ensured by non-deterministic random numbers generated from quantum random number generators, complemented by our quantum-secure out-of-band distribution network.

Reason 2: Dedicated Support

QiSpace offers comprehensive documentation and dedicated support channels. Our team, equipped with deep cryptographic knowledge, can provide personalized assistance to ensure a smooth migration to quantum-safe solutions. QiSpace includes regular updates and off-cycle patches for critical issues.

Reason 3: Quantum Entropy

Our Quantum Entropy as a Service is a scalable, resilient hybrid SaaS solution that includes a quantum-secure distribution network for entropy over existing IP networks. All of our cryptographic libraries, including our NIST PQC implementations, use quantum entropy as the foundation for their key generation. This feature maximizes cryptographic security by enabling algorithms to operate at their full security potential.

Reason 4: Crypto-Agility

Adaptability to evolving threats is crucial. That is why QiSpace supports a range of algorithms, including the NIST PQC standards as well as Quantropi’s novel PQC algorithms. Notably, our novel algorithms are optimized for performance and efficiency, particularly in resource-constrained environments:

Novel Key Exchange : Tailored for IoT solutions with an efficient 208-byte ciphertext size and approximately 8KB memory utilization at NIST L5.

Novel Digital Signature : Designed for IoT applications with a compact 272-byte signature size and under 11KB memory usage at NIST L5.

QiSpace also supports the OpenSSL 3.x Cryptographic Provider Model, which allows for modular cryptographic components and services. This flexibility enables the dynamic use of the latest, most up-to-date cryptographic libraries for asymmetric algorithms, including our own novel ciphers, with TLS 1.3 and other applications (NGINX, CURL, OpenVPN, strongSwan, etc) that are OpenSSL 3.x compatible.

Reason 5: Performance ; Portability:

Written in ANSI C, QiSpace ensures maximum portability and performance across various systems and platforms – supporting both x86 and ARM architectures. This approach simplifies integration and deployment, providing a seamless experience regardless of your existing infrastructure. Whether you’re working with embedded devices, edge computing, desktop, mobile or large-scale enterprise and cloud systems, QiSpace delivers reliable performance across diverse platforms and environments.