Encryption & Key Management , Security Operations

Is Your Network Ready for Post-Quantum Cryptography?

Updating enterprise networks for the post-quantum era will require more than simply swapping out one encryption algorithm for another. It could require enterprises to transform their hardware ecosystems to support the processing capacity, memory or protocol requirements of post-quantum cryptography.

But that doesn't mean that CIOs and CISOs should gather up all their routers, firewalls and appliances and chuck them in the recycling bin.

"For most things, it is a software patch. It is an updating of configuration," said Andrew Gault, CEO of software-defined networking company ZeroTier. "But you have to know what needs updating."

To start, CIOs need to map where cryptography operates across their networks and test how applications and infrastructure perform before deciding what to upgrade.

"I'm not saying that this is going to screw up every piece of hardware everywhere," said Francis Gorman, head of the Security and Resilience Center of Excellence at Bank of Ireland. "This is why you need to have a test capacity and a test approach."