As quantum computing technology advances, the cryptographic foundations of modern digital security—RSA and Elliptic Curve Cryptography—are facing an existential threat. To stay ahead of "harvest now, decrypt later" attacks, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has concluded a decade-long global search to select and standardize post-quantum algorithms.  This presentation provides a look at the NIST PQC standards, including ML-KEM, ML-DSA, and SLH-DSA. We will also look at the current status of other algorithms being considered for standardization.  Importantly, we discuss the PQC migration and the timeline for federal adoption.

Biography:

Dr. Dustin Moody is a mathematician at the Computer Security Division, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and he leads the post-quantum cryptography project at NIST. His research interests include elliptic curves and their applications in cryptography. Moody received a Ph.D. from the University of Washington.