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Your business can start preparing for quantum-resistant security now: map where public-key cryptography is used, prioritize data that must remain confidential for years, and plan a tested transition with your technical teams and suppliers. NIST finalized three post-quantum cryptography standards in August 2024. They address different jobs—key establishment or digital signatures—so they are building blocks for a migration, not interchangeable products or a one-step fix.
What does the quantum threat mean for a business today?
A sufficiently capable cryptographically relevant quantum computer could undermine some public-key cryptography used to establish keys and verify digital signatures. The “harvest now, decrypt later” scenario describes an attacker collecting encrypted information today in hopes of decrypting it in the future. It is a reason to consider how long sensitive data must stay confidential, not evidence that such a computer exists today or a reliable prediction of when one will.
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NIST advises organizations to begin applying its finalized standards and to find where vulnerable algorithms are used, then plan replacements or updates. That is a migration effort: systems, protocols, products, and services may all need attention. There is no universal private-sector deadline established here. NIST’s IR 8547 page describes an initial public draft of transition guidance, not a final schedule or a binding deadline for every business.
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Which post-quantum standards should your plan account for?
On August 13, 2024, NIST finalized three Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) for post-quantum cryptography. Use the function—not just the algorithm name—to determine where each could fit.
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- Dedicated Manager App: Use the Thetis Manager App for the initial hardware PIN setup. Setting the PIN on the device first ensures a smooth registration process. Once the PIN is configured, you can begin registering the key across your favorite FIDO2-compatible online services.
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- Check FIDO2 compatibility before purchase - Known limitations: ID Austria is not supported (requires FIDO2 Level 2). Windows Hello login only works with Windows Enterprise editions that support Entra ID, and NFC is NOT supported.
| Standard | What it does | Planning use |
|---|---|---|
| FIPS 203: ML-KEM | Key-encapsulation mechanism (KEM) for establishing a shared secret over a public channel; derived from CRYSTALS-KYBER. | Assess key-establishment paths in protocols and products. A KEM is not an encryption algorithm in the same sense as a symmetric cipher. |
| FIPS 204: ML-DSA | Digital-signature standard; derived from CRYSTALS-Dilithium. | Assess systems that sign or verify software, documents, messages, or other data. |
| FIPS 205: SLH-DSA | Stateless hash-based digital-signature standard; derived from SPHINCS+. | Evaluate where a distinct signature design is appropriate alongside application and interoperability requirements. |
NIST describes SLH-DSA as using a different mathematical approach from ML-DSA and as a backup method if ML-DSA proves vulnerable. That is a rationale for risk diversification, not proof that SLH-DSA is universally superior or the right choice for every system. ML-KEM handles key establishment; ML-DSA and SLH-DSA handle signatures, so they are not substitutes for one another.
8 practical steps to prepare your business
1. Build a cryptographic inventory
Start by discovering where cryptography actually lives, not only what your security policy says should be in use. Include algorithms, protocols, libraries, certificates, key-establishment paths, signing systems, devices, applications, cloud services, and supplier-provided components. Record owners, business purpose, dependencies, and whether each item is managed internally or by a vendor.
NIST’s National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence (NCCoE) identifies cryptographic visibility and risk management—including a comprehensive inventory—as a migration workstream. If a system’s cryptographic dependencies are unknown, treat that uncertainty as an inventory gap to resolve rather than assuming the system is unaffected.
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- FIDO2 & Passkey Ready: Business-ready and FIDO2 L1 certified. This key is supported by major management suites and is ideal for both individual and enterprise deployment. Works seamlessly with Gmail, Facebook, GitHub, Dropbox, Coinbase, and more.
- Dedicated Manager App: Use the Thetis Manager App for the initial hardware PIN setup. Setting the PIN on the device first ensures a smooth registration process. Once the PIN is configured, you can begin registering the key across your favorite FIDO2-compatible online services.
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- Enhanced MFA (FIDO2 & TOTP/HOTP): Strengthen your security with flexible options. Use the Manager App to access TOTP/HOTP features for accounts that do not yet support FIDO2.
- Check FIDO2 compatibility before purchase - Known limitations: ID Austria is not supported (requires FIDO2 Level 2). Windows Hello login only works with Windows Enterprise editions that support Entra ID. NFC functionality is not supported.
2. Prioritize by confidentiality lifetime and exposure
List data that would still cause harm if exposed years from now, such as long-lived business secrets, sensitive customer records, or regulated information. For each data class, note its required confidentiality lifetime, where it travels or is stored, and which encrypted channels protect it. Give earlier attention to information that is both highly sensitive and likely to remain valuable for a long time.
This ranking makes the “harvest now, decrypt later” scenario actionable without assigning it an unsupported likelihood or arrival date. A business should base priority on its own data lifetime, exposure, and consequences of disclosure.
3. Design for cryptographic agility
Plan how your organization could update algorithms, certificates, libraries, and protocol choices without rebuilding every application from scratch. Identify hard-coded cryptographic choices, dependencies that cannot be updated independently, and interfaces where a change could affect other systems. Set architecture requirements for replaceable components and controlled configuration changes where practical.
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Cryptographic agility is a migration design goal, not a certification or product feature implied by NIST’s standards pages. Validate any vendor’s specific claims against the actual versions, protocols, and configurations your environment uses.
4. Map key establishment to ML-KEM
ML-KEM establishes a shared secret between parties communicating over a public channel. Identify the real protocol and product paths that establish keys, then ask their owners or suppliers whether they support the finalized FIPS 203 standard and how that support is implemented. A standard’s existence alone does not establish that a particular product is compatible, validated, or ready to deploy.
5. Map signatures to ML-DSA
Digital signatures help recipients verify authenticity and detect unauthorized modification. Inventory where your organization creates or checks signatures, including software distribution, document workflows, devices, and service-to-service exchanges. For each use, confirm that FIPS 204 support and the relevant application profile work for both signers and verifiers before planning a change.
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- FIDO CTAP 2.1 for enhanced security features (e.g. resident credentials, Passkey support) and backwards compatibility with CTAP 2. FIDO2 L2 certified security for phishing resistant protection against identity theft and unauthorized access.
6. Evaluate SLH-DSA where its different design matters
SLH-DSA is a stateless hash-based signature scheme with a mathematical approach distinct from ML-DSA. Consider whether that difference supports your risk-diversification needs, while checking the concrete application’s compatibility, performance, and operational requirements. The standards define algorithms; they do not by themselves select a universal signature scheme for every business.
7. Test interoperability and operational effects
Test representative end-to-end workflows in your own environment before broad rollout. Include both endpoints and the systems between them, not just a library in isolation. NIST’s NCCoE migration work includes interoperability and benchmarking; for a business, the practical checks include:
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- Effects on certificate, key, signature, and message sizes, including devices or network links with tight limits.
- Latency, throughput, and resource use under realistic workloads.
- Effects on certificate issuance, verification, logging, archival, and incident-response processes.
- A rollback or recovery path if an update disrupts a critical workflow.
Use the results to expose constraints and set deployment criteria. Do not assume performance or compatibility from a standard name alone.
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- FIDO2 & Passkey Ready: Business-ready and FIDO2 L1 certified. This key is supported by major management suites and is ideal for both individual and enterprise deployment. Works seamlessly with Gmail, Facebook, GitHub, Dropbox, Coinbase, and more.
- Dedicated Manager App: Use the Thetis Manager App for the initial hardware PIN setup. Setting the PIN on the device first ensures a smooth registration process. Once the PIN is configured, you can begin registering the key across your favorite FIDO2-compatible online services.
- Universal Connectivity (USB-A & NFC): The Thetis PRO-A features integrated USB Type A and NFC for a near-instant account unlock. Simply unfold the key and hold it to your smartphone’s NFC antenna to authenticate on the go.
- Enhanced MFA (FIDO2 & TOTP/HOTP): Strengthen your security with flexible options. Use the Manager App to access TOTP/HOTP features for accounts that do not yet support FIDO2.
- Check FIDO2 compatibility before purchase - Known limitations: ID Austria is not supported (requires FIDO2 Level 2). Windows Hello login only works with Windows Enterprise editions that support Entra ID. NFC is supported only through mobile authentication, Not MacOS/windows.
8. Coordinate a staged rollout with suppliers and owners
For each affected system, assign a technical owner and business approver. Ask suppliers for product-specific support details, affected versions, dependencies, validation evidence, and an expected update path. Record change windows, test results, exceptions, and any compensating controls. Sequence updates so a change to one component does not leave its peers unable to establish keys or verify signatures.
NIST notes that products, services, and protocols need updates as organizations migrate. Treat vendor responses as inputs to your plan, then verify them in your configuration and tests. Keep an exceptions register with an owner and review date so legacy components do not disappear from view.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How should you turn the eight steps into a migration plan?
- Set scope: identify the business units, data classes, environments, and suppliers included in the first inventory.
- Assign owners: name accountable leads for discovery, architecture, application changes, procurement, and risk acceptance.
- Rank exposure: prioritize systems by data confidentiality lifetime, business impact, and migration complexity.
- Choose test candidates: select representative key-establishment and signature workflows, including vendor-managed and constrained systems.
- Agree on acceptance criteria: define compatibility, performance, security, recovery, and operational checks before changing production.
- Sequence and track changes: coordinate updates across dependent endpoints and suppliers; document evidence, exceptions, and unresolved gaps.
Use the plan to make decisions progressively: a complete inventory identifies what needs attention, and testing shows where a particular transition is feasible or needs further work. NIST’s published transition material at the cited IR 8547 page is an initial public draft; do not treat it as a final schedule for setting a business-wide compliance deadline.
What can a business do first?
Ask security and infrastructure teams to identify where public-key cryptography appears, and ask procurement to include post-quantum support and migration details in relevant supplier conversations. At the same time, classify data whose confidentiality must persist for years. Those three actions create a defensible starting point without requiring a rushed, untested replacement across every system.
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