Protect what you send from today.
The migration dates are set. The first one falls at the end of this year.
Governments and regulators have published dates for the move to post-quantum cryptography. These four publications set the pace, and the clock is already running.
Your networkIf it relies on RSA or ECC, the NIST draft already lists both for retirement.
EU roadmapAll Member States should start the transition to post-quantum cryptography.
UK NCSCServices that need upgrading identified, and a migration plan in place.
EU roadmapCritical infrastructure transitioned, no later than the end of 2030.
NIST draftRSA and ECC at 112-bit security deprecated after 2030.
UK NCSCHigh-priority migrations done.
UK NCSCMigration complete for all systems, services and products.
NIST draftRSA and ECC disallowed after 2035.
FINMA, July 2026: Swiss financial institutions are aware of the risk, but in most cases there is no clear roadmap for the migration.
Sources: EU roadmap, June 2025 · UK NCSC, March 2025 · NIST IR 8547 draft, Nov 2024 · FINMA, July 2026
Traffic you protect today stays protected for as long as it matters.
“Sensitive data often retains its value for many years.”
NIST IR 8547, initial public draftThis page is about the connection, not the devices behind it. An infected laptop stays infected, and this is not a defence against DDoS.
Between your control room and each site, traffic crosses public networks you do not control. Your firewalls sit at both ends and protect what is behind them. They do not reach the stretch in between.
That stretch is where quantum-safe encryption belongs. Protecting it now keeps today’s traffic confidential for as long as its contents stay sensitive.
Examples of what crosses it
- Critical infraSubstation management, grid monitoring and mission critical grid information
- IndustrialCommands, readings, alarms and remote sessions between sites
- HealthcarePatient records and X-ray, MRT and CT images
- DefenceLive video streams and remote control
QPN protects the connection against four risks. Only one of them depends on a quantum computer.
Protecting traffic early matters most for that one, because protection only covers traffic sent after the switch.
Harvest now, decrypt later
QPN agrees keys with quantum-resistant mathematics, so traffic protected from today stays protected against later decryption by a quantum computer. Protection starts with the traffic sent after the switch.
Start early for this one.
Man in the middle
QPN peers authenticate each other with pre-installed keys, and packets from unknown devices are dropped immediately. That protects the public networks between your control room and your sites, where you cannot see who else is present.
Protocol level attacks
Everything above Layer 3, including HTTPS, TLS and MQTT, travels encrypted between QPN endpoints, so protocol level exploits are covered in transit. What a device behind the gateway does sits outside that boundary. Where only certified equipment may be used, the gateway protects those protocols without touching the equipment.
Eavesdropping
Traffic between QPN endpoints cannot be read in unencrypted form, and cannot be altered without breaking both the classical and the post-quantum encryption. That holds for every edge site that reports to your data centre over a public network.
The equipment you install today will likely outlive the encryption it uses.
In regulated environments only certified devices may be used. Replacing one means downtime and a visit to every site, so the equipment stays in service for years. The protocols it speaks, MQTT and TLS, were fixed long before now.
Encryption has a shorter shelf life than that. The network you run today is largely the network you will still be running when the cryptography inside it is no longer strong enough. Nobody can name that date and we will not invent one.
Waiting does not shorten the replacement cycle. It shortens the time you have left to work with.
Upgrade to quantum-safe protection
See which gateways you need and where they go, in a few questions.
Answer a few questions about your locations and connections. You see an indicative configuration straight away: which gateways, and where they sit in your existing network.
Manage risk. Reduce your exposure.
No contact details needed to see your configuration.
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