Monitoring Quantum-Safe Algorithms

In today’s rapidly evolving digital landscape, organizations must ensure their cryptographic infrastructure can withstand the threats posed by quantum computing. Tracking the adoption of quantum-safe algorithms is essential for businesses transitioning to post-quantum cryptographic standards. In this walk-through, we’ll explore how to leverage the Quantum Network Monitor Assistant to monitor and assess the adoption of quantum-safe algorithms across your sites or services.

A user, keen to know whether their public-facing servers support or use quantum-safe algorithms, initiates the conversation:

User: I’d like to keep tabs on which of my domains and endpoints implement quantum-safe (post-quantum) algorithms. How can I set this up?

Assistant: Great goal! The Quantum Network Monitor Assistant offers a specialized “quantum” monitoring endpoint, making it simple to test for post-quantum cryptographic support on your domains. Let’s start by adding a host for quantum monitoring.

Assistant: Let’s begin by adding one of your domains (for example, example.com) and setting the endpoint to “quantum”. This will track quantum-safe algorithm adoption and compatible services on that host.

Here’s the function call I’d make:

{
  "detail_response": true,
  "address": "example.com",
  "endpoint": "quantum",
  "email": "[email protected]"
}

Once submitted, this setup will initiate recurring checks to see whether example.com supports current leading quantum-safe algorithms (like Kyber512, Dilithium2, etc.).

Suppose the user wants to monitor multiple hosts, or expand the scan to a certain port or server location.

User: Can you add my API server api.example.com:8443 as well and ensure the check is done from both EU and US agents?

Assistant: Absolutely. We can specify both the port and agent location during setup. Here’s how the calls would look:

{
  "detail_response": true,
  "address": "api.example.com",
  "endpoint": "quantum",
  "port": 8443,
  "email": "[email protected]",
  "agent_location": "Scanner - EU"
}

and

{
  "detail_response": true,
  "address": "api.example.com",
  "endpoint": "quantum",
  "port": 8443,
  "email": "[email protected]",
  "agent_location": "Scanner - US"
}

This way, you’ll observe how quantum-safe algorithm support can differ depending on geographic region or the specifics of your server configuration.

User: How do I check which of my monitored hosts have quantum-safe support or are lagging behind?

Assistant: You can retrieve monitoring data filtered for the “quantum” endpoint. Here’s an example query:

{
  "detail_response": true,
  "endpoint": "quantum"
}

This fetches the quantum readiness status for all hosts under your watch, highlighting which ones support post-quantum algorithms and which do not. For more granularity, you can request recent data for a specific host or time range, enabling you to track adoption trends over time.

User: Can I get a historical report showing when my hosts transitioned to quantum-safe encryption?

Assistant: Definitely. Let’s retrieve the monitoring records for a given host within a defined time window:

{
  "detail_response": true,
  "address": "example.com",
  "date_start": "2024-01-01T00:00:00",
  "date_end": "2024-07-01T23:59:59"
}

This lets you visualize progress and spot exactly when quantum-safe standards were adopted on each monitored endpoint.

In summary, using the Quantum Network Monitor Assistant, organizations can:

• Set up active monitoring specific to quantum-safe cryptographic standards.
• Compare readiness across multiple hosts, endpoints, ports, and geographic regions.
• Retrieve up-to-date and historical adoption data with just a few queries.
• Respond quickly if a host falls behind on post-quantum readiness.

Ready to future-proof your cryptography? Try setting up your own quantum algorithm monitors today with the Quantum Network Monitor Assistant and track adoption every step of the way!