Nation-state adversaries are harvesting your encrypted traffic today — storing it until a quantum computer can decrypt it. CipherQ reveals every vulnerability in your cryptographic posture before the window closes.
Nation-state actors are conducting large-scale collection of encrypted traffic today. When a Cryptographically Relevant Quantum Computer arrives — estimated 2030–2035 — every byte protected by RSA, ECDH, or ECC will be retroactively readable. The attack is already underway.
Intelligence agencies and advanced persistent threat actors are collecting and archiving encrypted traffic at scale. Any data protected by classical asymmetric cryptography today will be retrospectively decrypted the moment quantum hardware is capable.
A Cryptographically Relevant Quantum Computer with ~4,000 stable logical qubits can execute Shor's algorithm to factor RSA keys and solve discrete logarithms. NSA and NIST both project this capability arriving between 2030 and 2035.
The NCSC expects UK organisations to have completed cryptographic discovery and drafted a migration plan by 2028, high-priority migration by 2031, and full transition by 2035. It is guidance rather than law — but it is a published reference point with dates attached, which is what boards, auditors, insurers and enterprise customers now ask questions against. Discovery is the part almost nobody has done. US National Security Systems fall under NSA CNSA 2.0 on a comparable arc.
Harvest Now, Decrypt Later is the axis every briefing covers. It is not the only one, and it is not the one that will be hardest to explain afterwards. A quantum-capable adversary can take confidentiality, authenticity, or access — and the three behave nothing alike once they have.
| HNDLHarvest Now, Decrypt Later | TNFLTrust Now, Forge Later | DNELDeploy Now, Exploit Later | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property | Confidentiality | Authenticity | Access & non-repudiation |
| The move | Traffic recorded today is read once a CRQC exists. | A recovered signing key mints new trusted artifacts. | Genuine credentials are presented. Nothing is forged, so nothing looks wrong. |
| Detectable | No — the capture is passive, and it happens somewhere you cannot see. | Yes — a forged artifact exists, and can be examined. | No — nothing is anomalous. The audit entry is clean. |
| Retired by | Nothing. Captured traffic stays captured. | Re-issue under post-quantum signatures. | Rotation. |
The last row is the one that matters. HNDL and DNEL both get worse with delay, but they do not get worse in the same way. A credential recovered from a five-year-old handshake is worthless if the key it authenticates has since been re-issued. Traffic captured five years ago is not worthless, and never will be. That is why CipherQ scopes operator access around rotation and gateway placement rather than around cryptography alone — and why a DNEL finding is the one your logs will never raise.
The machine that breaks your encryption does not exist yet. The traffic it will break was recorded this morning.
Deep TLS inspection, Certificate Transparency log crawling, DNS enumeration, and subdomain discovery map your complete cryptographic attack surface — including shadow IT and forgotten endpoints you didn't know existed.
Differential KEX probing negotiates both classical and post-quantum key exchanges to detect actual PQ capability — not just advertised support. Cipher suites, protocol versions, and algorithm preferences are precisely fingerprinted.
Findings are scored via the Quantum Exposure Index (QEI), weighted by your data sensitivity profile. HNDL risk windows, certificate lifecycles, and compliance gaps are cross-referenced against CNSA 2.0, FIPS 203/204, and sector mandates.
Actionable CBOM reports, vendor scorecards, and prioritized remediation paths give every stakeholder — from CISO to developer — the exact signal they need, complete with regulatory mapping and migration timelines.
Real-time TLS 1.2/1.3 analysis, cipher suite negotiation, and PQ key exchange detection using differential KEX probing. Identifies X25519MLKEM768 (IANA 4588) and hybrid PQC support.
Per-tenant namespaced CBOMs cataloguing every cryptographic primitive in use across your infrastructure — mapped to FIPS standards and CNSA 2.0 migration requirements.
CT log mining via crt.sh, DNS enumeration, and subdomain brute-force expose your full cryptographic perimeter — including hosts outside your known inventory.
QEI aggregates TLS security, certificate health, PQ readiness, DNS posture, and HTTP security into a single weighted risk score calibrated to your industry's data sensitivity profile.
Comprehensive HTTP security header inspection covering HSTS, CSP, CORP, X-Frame-Options, and cryptographic hygiene — scored and benchmarked against industry best practice.
Automatically generated executive risk dashboards, vendor scorecards, and technical remediation playbooks — giving every stakeholder the information they need in the format they need it.
Financial data carries a 20–30 year secrecy horizon. HNDL attacks on trading infrastructure and customer PII create existential compliance exposure. CipherQ maps your quantum risk against PCI-DSS and DORA mandates.
Patient records carry a lifetime of sensitivity, which puts their confidentiality horizon decades beyond any credible CRQC estimate. CipherQ establishes what your transport cryptography actually negotiates today, and how long that leaves it standing.
The NCSC expects cryptographic discovery complete and a migration plan drafted by 2028. CipherQ produces the evidenced inventory that requirement asks for, and the audit trail to show when and how it was established.
OT/ICS environments with 10–30 year replacement cycles must begin PQC migration now. CipherQ identifies quantum-vulnerable cryptography across SCADA, HMI, and control system communication layers.
Attorney-client privilege and trade secrets require long-horizon confidentiality. M&A communications, litigation strategy, and IP documentation are prime HNDL targets. Know your exposure now.
Your customers' security is only as strong as yours. CipherQ's vendor scorecard helps enterprise security teams assess third-party PQ posture — and demonstrate your own quantum-readiness to buyers.
NIST and NSA have published binding standards. Federal agencies face hard deadlines. The window for orderly migration is closing — organizations that wait will face emergency remediation costs orders of magnitude higher than acting now.
Module-Lattice Key Encapsulation Mechanism (ML-KEM), based on CRYSTALS-Kyber. The primary NIST standard for post-quantum key exchange and encryption.
Module-Lattice Digital Signature Algorithm (ML-DSA), based on CRYSTALS-Dilithium. The primary NIST standard for post-quantum digital signatures.
Commercial National Security Algorithm Suite 2.0. Binding NSA guidance for National Security Systems mandating migration to ML-KEM and ML-DSA with hard deadlines.
Stateless Hash-Based Digital Signature Standard (SLH-DSA), based on SPHINCS+. A conservative backup PQC signature scheme for high-assurance environments.
Every session you terminate today is a decision about 2033.
No installation. No agent. No configuration. Enter a domain and receive a full post-quantum cryptographic threat assessment — free.
Questions? info@cipherq.co