The reliable way to find quantum-vulnerable public-key cryptography is to build and maintain an organization-wide cryptographic inventory. Record where each use runs, what function it performs, which algorithm and protocol or product provide it, who owns it, what data or process it protects, and what would have to change to migrate it. A perimeter scan is only one input: public-key functions can also be buried in applications, firmware, update systems, certificates, hardware modules, cloud services and supplier products.
What you are trying to discover
In this context, “vulnerable public-key encryption” means conventional public-key mechanisms used for key establishment and digital signatures that will need a post-quantum migration plan. The inventory should classify the cryptographic function rather than relying on a product name or a single port number.
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Key establishment and encryption
Record public-key mechanisms that establish session keys or encrypt information. They commonly appear in TLS, SSH, VPN and IPsec connections, email encryption, application protocols and cloud service integrations. Capture the protocol version, library or component, certificate relationship and the systems that depend on the resulting session or data protection.
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Signatures are a separate workstream even when they appear beside encryption. Identify signatures used for user or device authentication, certificates, software and firmware updates, package verification, code-signing pipelines and signed messages. A certificate authority, hardware module or update service can therefore be a migration dependency even if the application never performs encryption itself.
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Supporting infrastructure
Public-key use is also present in public-key infrastructure (PKI), certificate stores, key-management services, hardware security modules (HSMs), trusted platform modules (TPMs), identity systems, build pipelines and vendor-managed services. Record these dependencies so an application is not marked “ready” while an underlying module or certificate workflow still requires a conventional algorithm.
Do not treat every cryptographic use as equally threatened. NIST’s November 2024 initial public draft, NIST IR 8547, says existing symmetric cryptographic standards are less vulnerable to quantum attacks and that NIST does not expect a transition away from them as part of the post-quantum migration. Keep symmetric algorithms in the inventory for accuracy and dependency mapping, but focus quantum-vulnerability triage on public-key use and the ecosystem that enables it.
Why a single scan cannot answer the question
Automated discovery can reveal exposed protocols and some host-level artifacts, but it cannot prove that an organization has found every use. Cryptography may be statically linked into a binary, implemented by a commercial product, supplied by firmware, invoked only during an update, or negotiated inside a cloud service that the local team cannot inspect. The interagency post-quantum fact sheet specifically warns that discovery tools may miss cryptography embedded in products.
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Use scans to generate candidates, then validate each candidate with the system owner and, where necessary, the supplier. Ask suppliers for an inventory of embedded algorithms and a written post-quantum roadmap that covers testing, supported versions and integration timing. Treat a “no findings” scan as “no findings in the scanned coverage,” not as evidence that vulnerable use is absent.
Set scope, owners and the inventory record
Make discovery a cross-functional project before selecting tools. Include security engineering, IT operations, application and enterprise architecture, operational technology (OT), privacy and risk, identity, procurement and supply-chain management. Scope on-premises environments, cloud accounts, custom software, commercial off-the-shelf products, remote sites, laboratories, industrial control systems and disaster-recovery environments.
Assign accountability
- Executive sponsor: removes ownership conflicts and sets risk tolerance.
- Inventory coordinator: defines fields, deduplicates records and tracks remediation.
- System owners: explain the purpose, data and operational constraints of each use.
- Security and architecture: classify algorithms, protocols and migration dependencies.
- Procurement and suppliers: obtain embedded-cryptography details and roadmaps.
- OT and infrastructure teams: cover equipment whose software cannot be changed on a normal release cycle.
Minimum fields for each record
Use existing configuration-management, asset and identity inventories as a starting point, then add cryptographic detail. Each record should contain:
- System, service, device or product name and its business owner.
- Environment and location, such as production, development, cloud account, plant or branch.
- Cryptographic algorithm and function: key establishment, encryption, signature, authentication or certificate issuance.
- Protocol, library, framework, firmware component or product dependency.
- Certificate and public-key metadata, including issuer, subject, algorithm, validity period and renewal process. Never place secret key material in the inventory.
- Dependent systems, interfaces and trust relationships.
- Data set or business process protected.
- How long confidentiality is required for that data, and whether integrity or authenticity must also persist.
- Exposure, such as internet-facing, partner-facing, internal, isolated or physically controlled.
- Supplier, product version, support status and contract contact.
- Migration dependencies, including protocol changes, library upgrades, HSM or TPM support, PKI changes, hardware replacement and interoperability testing.
- Evidence, validation date, reviewer and next review date.
Keep algorithm and purpose as separate fields. “TLS” identifies a protocol, not the complete cryptographic use; a record should identify the negotiated or configured public-key function and whether it protects session establishment, authentication, a signature or a certificate chain.
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A layered discovery workflow
1. Start with network and protocol visibility
Enumerate internet-facing and internal services that negotiate public-key cryptography. Include web services, APIs, mail gateways, remote administration, VPN concentrators, IPsec peers, service meshes, directory and identity endpoints, partner links and management planes. Capture the endpoint, observed protocol, certificate chain, negotiated or offered public-key algorithms, and the owner of the service.
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NIST’s project FAQ names pqcscan for SSH and TLS inspection and sslscan for TLS cipher-suite discovery. These are examples, not a complete tool catalog or an endorsement. Check that a tool is maintained, understand which protocol versions it actually tests, and preserve scan date and configuration with the finding.
2. Inspect managed hosts and endpoints
On servers, workstations, appliances and mobile-management platforms where supported, examine:
- Installed packages and cryptographic libraries.
- Running processes and loaded modules.
- Application and web-server configuration.
- Certificate stores, trust stores and key-container metadata.
- SSH configuration and known host or trust relationships.
- VPN, IPsec and directory-authentication settings.
- Firmware, boot-verification and update-signing configuration.
File and process inspection can identify a library or configuration, but it may not reveal which code path is exercised or whether a product carries a private implementation. Have the owner confirm the actual use and business purpose.
3. Examine repositories, dependencies and CI/CD
Search source repositories, build manifests, lock files, container images, deployment charts and pipeline definitions for cryptographic libraries, protocol settings, certificate automation and signing steps. Include dependencies that are pulled indirectly by frameworks and base images. Inspect release jobs that sign packages, firmware or containers, and verification steps that consume those signatures.
Record the dependency path, version pin, maintainer and update mechanism. A vulnerable library may be present in an image without being used in production, while a build service may perform a critical signature operation even though no runtime scanner sees it.
4. Map PKI, keys and hardware modules
Draw the certificate and trust relationships for internal and external authorities. Identify root and intermediate authorities, registration and issuance services, automated renewal, revocation, timestamping, signing services and trust stores. Map where keys are generated, stored, backed up, rotated and used.
Include HSMs, TPMs, smart cards, network-attached key managers and cloud key-management services. Ask whether each module supports the post-quantum algorithms your architecture may adopt, whether firmware upgrades are possible, and whether a replacement changes APIs, key sizes, certification scope or operational procedures.
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5. Identify cloud and supplier dependencies
For every cloud service, managed platform and commercial product, record the cryptographic functions exposed to your organization and those hidden behind the service boundary. Request product documentation that identifies algorithms, protocol versions, certificate handling, signing services, firmware components and update mechanisms. Ask for a post-quantum migration roadmap with planned test environments, supported interfaces and integration dates.
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Supplier responses should be retained as evidence and tied to a product version and date. A generic statement that a product is “quantum safe” is not enough to identify which algorithms, modes, certificates or interfaces are covered.
6. Use certificate records as a second discovery source
Certificates reveal trust relationships that asset lists often miss. NIST’s FAQ lists crt.sh as a way to find certificates associated with domains or organizations. Use that kind of public-certificate search alongside internal certificate-authority records, load-balancer configuration and endpoint stores. Validate ownership, because a certificate may be expired, delegated to a supplier or unrelated to a currently active service.
7. Reconcile and validate
Compare discovery results with the configuration-management database, asset inventory, identity records, endpoint-detection data, procurement records and vendor register. Investigate three mismatches:
- An asset with cryptographic findings but no accountable owner.
- An owner or supplier claiming no public-key use where scans or configurations show one.
- A listed system that has no technical evidence, current certificate, dependency record or recent owner confirmation.
Close a finding only after a named owner confirms the function, scope and evidence. Mark uncertainty explicitly and schedule a follow-up rather than silently deleting an ambiguous record.
How to classify and prioritize findings
Inventory data becomes useful when it drives a migration sequence. Rank each record using several dimensions instead of one vulnerability label.
| Priority factor | Questions to ask | Why it changes the order |
|---|---|---|
| System and process impact | Would failure affect safety, revenue, essential services, legal obligations or recovery? | High-impact systems need earlier architecture and supplier work. |
| Data confidentiality lifetime | Must the protected information remain secret for years or decades? | Long-lived sensitive data is relevant to “harvest now, decrypt later” planning. |
| Exposure | Is the use internet-facing, partner-facing, broadly internal or isolated? | Exposure affects monitoring, transition sequencing and compensating controls. |
| Dependency complexity | Does migration require protocol, library, PKI, HSM, firmware or hardware changes? | Complex dependencies need longer engineering and procurement lead time. |
| Replacement feasibility | Can the owner update software, certificates or firmware within its support window? | Hard-to-change equipment may require a funded replacement plan. |
| Evidence confidence | Was the use observed, owner-confirmed, supplier-confirmed or inferred? | Low-confidence records need validation before risk decisions. |
Start with critical infrastructure, industrial control systems, high-impact services and data whose confidentiality must last a long time. Then prioritize broadly deployed libraries, shared PKI and central authentication or signing services because one change can affect many applications. Keep a separate queue for unknown or embedded uses: uncertainty itself is a dependency that requires supplier or engineering investigation.
Standards context for the inventory
NIST approved three Federal Information Processing Standards on August 13, 2024. FIPS 203 specifies a module-lattice-based key-encapsulation mechanism. FIPS 204 and FIPS 205 specify digital-signature standards. Record key establishment and signatures separately so teams can map these categories to the systems that need them.
On March 11, 2025, NIST selected HQC as a fifth post-quantum encryption algorithm and described it as a backup for ML-KEM. That announcement said a draft standard was expected in about a year and a final standard in 2027; those are the timetable stated in the announcement, not confirmation that the final standard has been completed. Do not mark a system compliant merely because it could eventually use an algorithm under development.
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NIST’s IR 8547 material is an initial public draft dated November 2024. Use it to understand transition dependencies, while labeling it a draft when citing or basing internal decisions on it. The finalized standards are not a universal drop-in replacement: larger algorithm sizes and different interfaces can require changes to protocols, libraries, hardware modules, PKI, certificates, testing and interoperability.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Common blind spots and recovery actions
Only scanning the perimeter
Symptom: The inventory contains web and VPN endpoints but no build systems, update channels or internal services.
Recovery: Add host, repository, CI/CD, PKI, hardware, cloud and supplier discovery. Reconcile each layer with asset and procurement records.
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Symptom: A record says “application uses TLS” without identifying the key-establishment algorithm, certificate chain, library or protected data.
Recovery: Split protocol, algorithm, purpose, component, owner and data into separate fields. Capture both encryption/key establishment and signatures.
Trusting a clean automated result
Symptom: A scanner reports no vulnerable algorithm for a commercial appliance or embedded device.
Recovery: Ask the supplier for embedded-cryptography details, product-version scope and a written migration roadmap. Obtain owner confirmation of update and replacement options.
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Symptom: Inventory exports contain private keys, seed values or unprotected key backups.
Recovery: Remove secret material. Retain only metadata such as key type, purpose, owner, location, lifecycle state and certificate relationship, and protect the inventory itself as sensitive security information.
Ignoring signing and update paths
Symptom: Network encryption is recorded, but code-signing, firmware verification and certificate issuance are absent.
Recovery: Inventory signing keys, build services, update repositories, verification libraries, trust anchors and rollback procedures as distinct uses.
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Symptom: Two systems are ranked only by current exposure even though one protects records that must remain secret for decades.
Recovery: Add required confidentiality duration and dataset criticality, then rerun prioritization.
Keep the inventory current
Cryptographic discovery is a living control, not a one-time spreadsheet. Connect change management, software composition analysis, certificate renewal, vulnerability management, procurement and architecture review to the register. Require a new or updated record when a service is introduced, a library changes, a certificate authority changes, a device receives firmware, or a supplier releases a major product version.
Set review triggers appropriate to the environment: reassess after material architecture changes, certificate or key-management changes, mergers, cloud migrations, supplier updates and incidents. Retain evidence from scans and owner attestations with dates and tool versions. Track unresolved questions, planned tests, replacement budgets and target milestones so migration work can be audited rather than rediscovered.
Finally, report progress in terms of coverage and dependency reduction: percentage of in-scope assets with an owner, percentage of records with validated algorithm and purpose, number of supplier products lacking embedded-crypto evidence, and critical systems with an approved migration path. These measures show whether uncertainty is shrinking without pretending that a scan can prove the organization is free of vulnerable public-key use.
Quick Recap
A practical first 30-day plan
- Days 1–5: appoint the sponsor and coordinator, define in-scope environments, and publish the inventory fields and rule that secret key material is excluded.
- Days 6–10: import asset, identity, endpoint, procurement and supplier records; identify critical services, OT and long-lived sensitive datasets.
- Days 11–18: run controlled network and certificate discovery, inspect managed hosts, and collect repository and CI/CD dependency data.
- Days 19–23: map PKI, HSM/TPM, cloud key-management and signing services; send suppliers a standard request for embedded algorithms and migration roadmaps.
- Days 24–27: reconcile findings with existing inventories, resolve ownership gaps and mark evidence confidence.
- Days 28–30: rank records by impact, confidentiality lifetime, exposure and dependencies; approve owners, next actions and review dates for the highest-priority systems.
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