Today, the UK’s National Cybersecurity Centre (NCSC) published a roadmap for UK businesses and critical national infrastructure to transition to post-quantum cryptography (PQC).
Leading post-quantum cryptography company PQShield, which helped to shape new global standards for PQC, welcomes the guidance. Please see below for a comment.
Dr Ali El Kaafarani, co-founder and CEO of PQShield said:
“In setting out timelines for the transition to post-quantum cryptography, the NCSC has given clear instructions to businesses and institutions to protect the UK’s digital future. The timeline is aligned with the US hardstop of having all products and services in the cybersecurity supply chain protected by post-quantum cryptography by 2035. To meet such a strict requirement, higher layers of the supply chain like Semiconductors and OEMs have already started executing their own transition roadmaps, which they have been working on for a while. By 2028, I very much expect the majority of semis and OEMs to have their main product lines post-quantum enabled, which will have the door wide open to the rest of the supply chain, be it telecom, financial, energy, or healthcare, to continue executing their transition roadmaps with actual post-quantum enabled devices/protocols.
“This transition to new cryptographic standards will be the most significant technological shift we have faced this century. IT leaders in every business need to have the PQC transition on their agenda and allocate the time and resources necessary to deliver it, or they risk falling behind the timeline. For companies across the technology supply chain, there’s an opportunity to find a competitive advantage by delivering PQC-compliant products sooner, helping them become suppliers of choice to buyers hoping to meet the NCSC deadlines.
“Failure to act over the next three, five and ten years will potentially expose the UK’s cybersecurity infrastructure to attacks from global adversaries. But more interestingly, the transition gives the UK the opportunity to tap into its deep pool of technical expertise to lead the world in quantum security through early adoption of the new standards.”
Further context
PQC migration is a commercial imperative
In August 2024, the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) finalized PQC standards that gave businesses, governments, and institutions globally a defined route to modernizing their cryptography, safeguarding their data, and protecting themselves from future quantum attacks. These new PQC standards are fully supported by the UK’s NCSC.
Businesses are already moving towards their adoption, but the transition to PQC is being accelerated by government directives like the US National Security timelines set out in CNSA 2.0, which mandated the migration of critical systems to PQC by 2035. Today’s guidance from the NCSC is another example, meaning it’s now a commercial imperative for organisations to adopt PQC.
The NCSC recognizes that many UK businesses have not started their planning, and that many vendors within the supply chain are yet to bring quantum-secure products to market.
“At PQShield, we understand that for most organisations, 80% of the PQC transition will be delivered through their vendor supply chain, with most businesses only needing to replace 20% of their owned and operated systems to comply with the new standards. As more quantum-secure products hit the market, the pace of the transition will increase,” says PQShield founder, Dr Ali El Kaafarani.
Opportunity for the UK
The UK has a wealth of technical expertise and talent. As the world collectively begins to develop quantum secure solutions, there is an opportunity for UK businesses to set the standard for implementation and to pioneer the early adoption of the new standards.
PQShield is an example of a UK-founded company leading the commercial roll-out of PQC on the global scale. The company’s team co-authored all of the NIST PQC standards, and continue to play a major role with NIST and NCSC in developing guidance for businesses on how to implement PQC in real-world contexts.
About PQShield
PQShield is a post-quantum cryptography (PQC) company building the quantum-safe cryptography solutions that are modernizing the vital security systems and components of the global technology supply chain. We deliver real-world, high-quality secure implementations of quantum-safe cryptography in hardware, software and the cloud, as well as being a leading contributor to post-quantum cryptography standardization projects around the world.
Headquartered in the UK, with a 70 strong team across 10 countries, PQShield’s contribution has been recognised by Bloomberg, Wired, Fast Company and the World Economic Forum. The company is backed by Addition, Oxford Science Enterprises, Chevron Technology Ventures, Legal & General, Braavos Capital, Kindred Capital, Crane and Innovate UK. Its extensive catalog of technical publications is available here.
Leading post-quantum cryptography company PQShield, which helped to shape new global standards for PQC, welcomes the guidance. Please see below for a comment.
Dr Ali El Kaafarani, co-founder and CEO of PQShield said:
“In setting out timelines for the transition to post-quantum cryptography, the NCSC has given clear instructions to businesses and institutions to protect the UK’s digital future. The timeline is aligned with the US hardstop of having all products and services in the cybersecurity supply chain protected by post-quantum cryptography by 2035. To meet such a strict requirement, higher layers of the supply chain like Semiconductors and OEMs have already started executing their own transition roadmaps, which they have been working on for a while. By 2028, I very much expect the majority of semis and OEMs to have their main product lines post-quantum enabled, which will have the door wide open to the rest of the supply chain, be it telecom, financial, energy, or healthcare, to continue executing their transition roadmaps with actual post-quantum enabled devices/protocols.
“This transition to new cryptographic standards will be the most significant technological shift we have faced this century. IT leaders in every business need to have the PQC transition on their agenda and allocate the time and resources necessary to deliver it, or they risk falling behind the timeline. For companies across the technology supply chain, there’s an opportunity to find a competitive advantage by delivering PQC-compliant products sooner, helping them become suppliers of choice to buyers hoping to meet the NCSC deadlines.
“Failure to act over the next three, five and ten years will potentially expose the UK’s cybersecurity infrastructure to attacks from global adversaries. But more interestingly, the transition gives the UK the opportunity to tap into its deep pool of technical expertise to lead the world in quantum security through early adoption of the new standards.”
Further context
PQC migration is a commercial imperative
In August 2024, the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) finalized PQC standards that gave businesses, governments, and institutions globally a defined route to modernizing their cryptography, safeguarding their data, and protecting themselves from future quantum attacks. These new PQC standards are fully supported by the UK’s NCSC.
Businesses are already moving towards their adoption, but the transition to PQC is being accelerated by government directives like the US National Security timelines set out in CNSA 2.0, which mandated the migration of critical systems to PQC by 2035. Today’s guidance from the NCSC is another example, meaning it’s now a commercial imperative for organisations to adopt PQC.
The NCSC recognizes that many UK businesses have not started their planning, and that many vendors within the supply chain are yet to bring quantum-secure products to market.
“At PQShield, we understand that for most organisations, 80% of the PQC transition will be delivered through their vendor supply chain, with most businesses only needing to replace 20% of their owned and operated systems to comply with the new standards. As more quantum-secure products hit the market, the pace of the transition will increase,” says PQShield founder, Dr Ali El Kaafarani.
Opportunity for the UK
The UK has a wealth of technical expertise and talent. As the world collectively begins to develop quantum secure solutions, there is an opportunity for UK businesses to set the standard for implementation and to pioneer the early adoption of the new standards.
PQShield is an example of a UK-founded company leading the commercial roll-out of PQC on the global scale. The company’s team co-authored all of the NIST PQC standards, and continue to play a major role with NIST and NCSC in developing guidance for businesses on how to implement PQC in real-world contexts.
About PQShield
PQShield is a post-quantum cryptography (PQC) company building the quantum-safe cryptography solutions that are modernizing the vital security systems and components of the global technology supply chain. We deliver real-world, high-quality secure implementations of quantum-safe cryptography in hardware, software and the cloud, as well as being a leading contributor to post-quantum cryptography standardization projects around the world.
Headquartered in the UK, with a 70 strong team across 10 countries, PQShield’s contribution has been recognised by Bloomberg, Wired, Fast Company and the World Economic Forum. The company is backed by Addition, Oxford Science Enterprises, Chevron Technology Ventures, Legal & General, Braavos Capital, Kindred Capital, Crane and Innovate UK. Its extensive catalog of technical publications is available here.