forbes.com, Oct. 20, 2025 –
By Ali El Kaafarani,Forbes Councils Member.
The world is embarking on a cryptographic overhaul. Governments and industries are preparing to replace the current cryptographic standards Rivest-Shamir-Adleman (RSA) and elliptic curve cryptography (ECC). In their place, a new generation of algorithms designed to withstand attacks by quantum computers is emerging, and last year, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) finalized its first set of post-quantum cryptography (PQC) standards. For businesses, the implications are clear: A complete cryptographic transition is coming, and deadlines are approaching.
Published guidance from NIST, the U.K.’s National Cyber Security Center (NCSC) and other national agencies worldwide is rapidly expanding, coalescing around a five- to 10-year window to fully transition to PQC. Most organizations, particularly those using and deploying products with a life cycle of over five years, must start transitioning critical systems to quantum-resistant security now.