MO
Mike Ounsworth
— On the schedule —
Why have the PQC standards taken so long? Bottlenecks, bickering, and building momentum
NIST published the specifications for LMS in 2020 and ML-KEM, ML-DSA, and SLH-DSA in August 2024. Two years later, we are only beginning to see commercial deployment, and in some cases not yet even fully stable specifications for using these algorithms in the places that matter: TLS, email, code signing, passkeys, etc. This talk will explore some of the reasons that the PQC standards got stuck in the mud and what we, as the cryptographic community, can do to push past messy and time-consuming consensus-building processes to get PQC deployed on time. This topic is not mine alone, but belongs to the community, so bring your questions and opinions because I hope this turns into some lively audience interaction!
— Compositor's note —
Mike Ounsworth is a software security architect, cryptographic protocol designer, and open source maintainer. He is deeply involved in the Post-Quantum transition, particularly in re-designing IETF networking protocols to accommodate the new PQC algorithms, dual-algorithm hybrids, and mechanisms to ease migration barriers. Mike wears many hats: he is the founder of Cryptic Forest Software, Adjunct Professor at Université de Sherbrooke, architect and lead maintainer of the Bouncy Castle Rust cryptographic library, and part of the IETF leadership as Chair of the ACME working group and member of the IETF Security Directorate.