NIST finalized post-quantum standards in August 2024. CNSA 2.0 mandates adoption by 2030 for national security systems. The timeline is not theoretical—it is underway. Here is what organizations need to know and how H33 accelerates the transition.
August 2024: NIST published FIPS 203 (ML-KEM), FIPS 204 (ML-DSA), and FIPS 205 (SLH-DSA) as final standards. These are production-ready specifications.
2025: NSA CNSA 2.0 guidance requires agencies to begin planning and testing post-quantum implementations.
2027: CNSA 2.0 mandates post-quantum algorithms for web browsers and servers handling national security data. Classical algorithms begin deprecation.
2030: CNSA 2.0 requires full post-quantum adoption for national security systems. Classical-only systems become non-compliant.
2033: NIST plans to fully deprecate classical algorithms (RSA, ECDSA, ECDH) for all federal use.
2035: CNSA 2.0 target for complete transition of all legacy systems.
Post-quantum migration affects every system using public-key cryptography: TLS/HTTPS, digital signatures, key exchange, certificate authorities, VPN tunnels, email encryption, code signing, document signing, authentication tokens, and API authentication.
Symmetric algorithms (AES-256, SHA-256, SHA-3) do not need replacement. Grover's algorithm provides only quadratic speedup against symmetric primitives, so AES-256 retains 128-bit security against quantum attacks. However, key exchange mechanisms establishing symmetric keys (ECDH) must be replaced with post-quantum alternatives (ML-KEM).
Adversaries are recording encrypted network traffic today, storing it, and planning to decrypt it when quantum computers become capable. Any data encrypted with classical algorithms that needs to remain confidential for more than 10-15 years is already at risk. The effective deadline for migration is the current date minus the data's required confidentiality lifetime.
Catalog every system using public-key cryptography. Identify algorithms, key sizes, and data sensitivity. Classify by quantum risk: high (long-lived secrets, government/healthcare data), medium (session-based encryption), low (non-sensitive communications).
Introduce cryptographic abstraction layers. Replace direct algorithm calls with abstract interfaces. This creates the ability to change algorithms later without code modifications.
Deploy post-quantum algorithms alongside classical algorithms. For TLS, use hybrid key exchange (ECDH + ML-KEM). For signatures, use nested hybrid signing (Ed25519 + ML-DSA). This provides quantum resistance while maintaining backward compatibility.
Switch defaults to post-quantum algorithms. Deprecate classical-only configurations. Update compliance documentation. Retire classical keys.
H33 provides post-quantum cryptography as a service, eliminating the need to implement ML-KEM, ML-DSA, FALCON, and SLH-DSA yourself. The API handles parameter selection, key management, signing, verification, and key rotation.
H33 uses three independent hardness assumptions (MLWE lattices via ML-DSA, NTRU lattices via FALCON, stateless hash functions via SLH-DSA), providing defense-in-depth exceeding minimum NIST requirements. The H33-74 attestation format distills all three signature families into 74 bytes.
Organizations that adopt H33 skip Phases 2-4 of the migration strategy. Crypto agility is built into the platform. The effective migration time drops from 12-24 months to weeks.
| Standard | Requirement | H33 Coverage |
|---|---|---|
| CNSA 2.0 | ML-KEM, ML-DSA by 2030 | ML-DSA + FALCON + SLH-DSA in production today |
| FIPS 203 | ML-KEM key encapsulation | Kyber-768 in key exchange layer |
| FIPS 204 | ML-DSA digital signatures | ML-DSA-65 in attestation pipeline |
| FIPS 205 | SLH-DSA hash-based signatures | SLH-DSA-SHA2-128f in three-key signer |
| SP 800-131A | Algorithm transition | Crypto-agile multi-engine architecture |
The deadline is approaching. H33 provides production-ready post-quantum cryptography as a service.