The Department of Homeland Security has released a guidance to assist organizations in securing their data and systems and mitigating risks and in preparing for the transition to post-quantum cryptography.
The roadmap was developed in collaboration with the Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and was meant to offer guidance on the identification, prioritization and protection of susceptible data and algorithms, DHS said Monday.
Alejandro Mayorkas, secretary of DHS and 2021 Wash100 Award recipient, noted that as quantum computing emerges as a scientific breakthrough, it also poses new risks to data privacy and cybersecurity.
One of the roadmap’s recommendations is to instruct chief information officers to expand their engagement with standards developing institutions to gain information on the latest developments and changes in protocols.
The guidance also suggested the creation of an inventory for the most sensitive and critical data needed to be secured for prolonged periods of time.
“This information will inform future analysis by identifying what data may be at risk now and decrypted once a cryptographically relevant quantum computer is available,” the roadmap reads.
Earlier in March, Mayorkas indicated that the adoption of post-quantum encryption algorithms is a priority of the agency and the private sector is slated to manage the effort’s implementation.