U.S. National Security Agency (NSA)

U.S. Spy Agency Sets Requirements and Deadline for Adoption of Post-Quantum Cryptography

The Director of NSA is the National Manager for NSS and therefore issues guidance for NSS. The algorithms in CNSA 2.0 are an update to those in the currently required Commercial National Security Algorithm Suite (now referred to as CNSA 1.0) listed in CNSSP 15, Annex B (released in 2016). The CNSA 2.0 algorithms have been analyzed as secure against both classical and quantum computers, and they will eventually be required for NSS.

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Take it or Leave it: U.S. National Security Agency Gave Us the Questions They Asked Themselves, and the Answers They Gave Themselves

Quantum computers can, in principle, perform certain mathematical algorithms exponentially faster than a classical computer. In place of ordinary bits used by today’s computers, quantum computers use “qubits” that behave and interact according to the laws of quantum mechanics. This quantum physics-based behavior would enable a sufficiently large-scale quantum computer to perform specific mathematical calculations that would be infeasible for any conventional computer.

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