According to a recent LinkedIn post from Axiad, the company is drawing attention to evolving risks in the shift to post-quantum cryptography, extending beyond the commonly cited “harvest now, decrypt later” data threat. The post highlights a newer concern described as “trust now, exploit later,” focusing on how future quantum capabilities could undermine digital signatures and certificates used in authentication.
The company’s LinkedIn post points to the U.S. National Security Agency’s post-quantum guidance, including CNSSP 15 and CNSA 2.0 timelines and a federal roadmap that runs through 2031, with an agency plan deadline around October 2022. The post also notes that organizations such as Google, Cloudflare, and the Dutch government appear to be converging on 2029–2030 as key transition milestones for post-quantum readiness.
As described in the post, Axiad’s new content outlines five initial steps for organizations, beginning with creating an inventory of all certificates, keys, and credentials that underpin trust in their environments. The post frames this as an identity and trust-anchor challenge, given that signatures support smart card logins, certificate-based Wi-Fi, TLS, and firmware updates across critical systems.
The LinkedIn post references Axiad’s PQC Confidence Gap research, which reports a notable perception gap between leadership and technical teams regarding cryptographic inventories. According to the summary, 90% of CISOs and CIOs believe they maintain continuously updated crypto inventories, while only 33% of architects and PKI engineers managing those assets concur, implying potential operational blind spots.
For investors, the post suggests that post-quantum preparation is becoming a structured, timeline-driven priority for governments and large technology providers, which could expand the addressable market for identity and certificate management solutions. Axiad’s emphasis on inventorying trust anchors and addressing authentication risks may position it to benefit from growing demand for tools that help enterprises navigate PQC migration and mitigate long-term identity-related vulnerabilities.