July 04, 2025
Copyright 2025: Forward Edge-AI, Inc.
White Paper Whitepaper
The rise of quantum computing is set to fundamentally disrupt the cryptographic foundations that secure the world’s most critical systems—including SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) and Industrial Control Systems (ICS). Infrastructures such as power grids, water systems, transportation networks, and military base logistics form the foundation of modern civilization. Despite their critical importance, over 56% of SCADA/ICS operators report breaches annually, and nearly half have failed to implement fundamental protections such as traffic encryption or role-based access controls. The looming risk has moved beyond the realm of hypothesis.
The National Security Agency (NSA), NIST, IMF, and World Economic Forum all confirm that RSA and ECC encryption schemes—which underpin most SCADA/ICS PKI systems—will be rendered obsolete by 2026 due to the advance of cryptanalytically-relevant quantum computers (CRQCs ). The Urgency:
•Over 20 billion devices, including legacy SCADA/ICS endpoints, must be upgraded to quantum-resistant cryptography before 2027.
•Cyberattacks leveraging “Harvest Now, Decrypt Later” (HNDL) tactics are actively scraping encrypted OT/IT data for future decryption.
•Poor network segmentation, outdated firmware, and legacy PKI introduce unacceptable lateral movement risks.
The Problem
If malicious actors gain access to quantum capabilities, they could decrypt sensitive military communications, seize control of nuclear arsenals, and track military assets with unprecedented accuracy. Picture a world where nuclear deterrents are rendered obsolete, every military movement is exposed, and every aircraft, ship, or weapon is vulnerable to hacking, spoofing, or destruction. Moreover, military supply chains could be targeted, with critical infrastructure—utilities, resupply routes, and logistics—disrupted, leaving forces crippled and unable to operate effectively. In this future, the only truly secure soldier might be one armed with nothing more than a map, a compass, and a rifle.
Legacy ICS/SCADA systems depend heavily on PKI architectures and cryptographic controlled items (CCI), which are costly, time-consuming to provision, and difficult to manage in contested environments. Such systems fall short of Zero Trust standards and lack the resilience needed to withstand quantum-era threats.
Energy grids, water utilities, manufacturing plants, transportation systems, and military installations form the backbone of modern civilization and rely heavily on SCADA and ICS. Operational technologies in these environments were originally built with a focus on reliability, uptime, and deterministic performance—not cybersecurity. As a consequence, many SCADA/ICS networks continue to use legacy encryption schemes, limited segmentation, and outdated firmware, creating serious vulnerabilities to advancing cyber threats.
The emergence of quantum computing introduces an existential threat to these systems. Algorithms like RSA, ECC, and DH—core components of traditional Public Key Infrastructure (PKI)—are mathematically vulnerable to quantum decryption via Shor’s algorithm. According to the NSA and NIST, these algorithms will become practically obsolete as early as 2026. Meanwhile, advanced persistent threat (APT) actors are already harvesting encrypted OT traffic for future exploitation using HNDL tactics.
Despite repeated warnings from agencies such as the IMF, WEF, and the Department of Homeland Security, most critical infrastructure operators have not begun the transition to quantum-resistant cryptography. For SCADA/ICS environments, this gap represents not just a cybersecurity risk—but a national security emergency.
The white paper examines the unique vulnerabilities of SCADA/ICS architectures in the context of advancing quantum computing. Technical and operational risks posed by cryptanalytically relevant quantum computers (CRQCs) are defined, along with an exploration of regulatory mandates driving the transition to post-quantum encryption. Isidore is introduced as a CNSA 2.0-compliant, AI-augmented encryption platform engineered to eliminate PKI, reduce cognitive burden, and secure OT/ICS environments from both conventional and quantum-enabled cyber threats.
Thus, the purpose of this paper is to arm stakeholders in defense, critical infrastructure, and national security with actionable insights and a proven solution framework to protect our most vital systems—before Q-Day arrives.
The threat is already in motion. Adversaries are conducting campaigns—collecting encrypted SCADA/ICS traffic today, knowing it will be decryptable tomorrow. At the same time, only a minority of infrastructure operators have implemented basic security controls like TLS or Privileged Identity Management (PIM).
For decades, the cybersecurity of SCADA and ICS has depended on PKI protocols built around RSA, ECC, and Diffie-Hellman encryption. These cryptographic standards were considered sufficient because they relied on the assumption that no adversary could efficiently solve their underlying mathematical problems with classical computing power.
That assumption no longer holds.
The emergence of CRQCs will break RSA and ECC in minutes—not years—rendering traditional PKI obsolete. With their ability to factor large prime numbers and solve discrete logarithm problems exponentially faster than classical systems, quantum computers threaten to dismantle the digital trust model upon which modern SCADA/ICS systems are built.
The operational impact is severe:
•Water purification systems, energy grids, and military base HVAC units could be manipulated through decrypted command and control channels.
•Legacy PKI systems with fixed keys and manual provisioning create cognitive overload for operators—especially during crisis response.
•Lateral movement within poorly segmented OT networks could lead to cascading failures across power, logistics, and weapons control systems.
According to a Fortinet-commissioned Forrester study, 97% of organizations report security challenges due to IT/OT convergence, and 56% of SCADA/ICS operators experienced a breach in the last year. Many have not deployed TLS encryption or even basic role-based access controls, making them easy targets for nation-state actors and cybercriminals alike.
Quantum Risk Amplifies the Attack Surface
The growing availability of quantum computing capabilities will upend assumptions that have governed OT encryption for over 40 years. Quantum algorithms such as Shor’s can factor large numbers in polynomial time—making the private keys of RSA and ECC decryptable in minutes. CRQCs don’t need to be perfect; they only need to be “good enough” to break current encryption, and they are forecast to arrive by 2026, according to U.S. and international cyber agencies.
Meanwhile, adversaries are actively conducting HNDL campaigns, capturing encrypted industrial traffic with the intent to decrypt it once quantum computing becomes viable. Captured data commonly includes:
•OT control signals
•Configuration files
•Firmware payloads
•Encrypted session tokens and remote access credentials
Risk to national infrastructure grows more severe due to the complexity and resistance to change inherent in SCADA/ICS upgrade processes. Many systems operate on proprietary hardware, rely on tightly integrated logic, require lengthy certification cycles, and contain embedded controllers that are decades old and difficult to replace or patch.
Mandates Are Coming
In response, the U.S. government and National Security Agency (NSA) have mandated a complete migration from RSA and ECC to the Commercial National Security Algorithm (CNSA) Suite 2.0, featuring quantum-resistant algorithms such as CRYSTALS-Kyber and Dilithium. Requirements now apply to all National Security Systems and are expected to become formalized across broader industry standards.
For the SCADA/ICS sector, this means sweeping cryptographic modernization. The NSA’s Commercial Solutions for Classified (CSfC) program, NIST’s PQC roadmap, and the World Economic Forum’s quantum readiness reports all underscore a stark truth: systems that fail to modernize will become liabilities—both operationally and legally.
The Solution: Isidore Quantum
As quantum computing accelerates toward operational maturity, SCADA/ICS environments must adopt cryptographic solutions that do more than patch vulnerabilities—they must replace the broken trust models altogether. Isidore Quantum® (Isidore), a CNSA 2.0-compliant, NSA-originated encryption platform, does precisely that.
Born from a technology transfer agreement between the NSA and Forward Edge-AI, Inc., and now validated across land, sea, air, and space, Isidore is the first commercial encryption platform designed from the ground up for a post-quantum, zero-trust world.
Unlike conventional PKI-based defenses, Isidore eliminates certificates, key loaders, and centralized key authorities altogether. It replaces them with autonomous, ephemeral keying based on NSA-approved CNSA 2.0 algorithms (CRYSTALS-Kyber and Dilithium) and a zero-trust architecture that cryptographically pairs endpoints at the physical layer.
Core features include:
•Quantum-resistant encryption with real-time self-healing and autonomous rekeying
•No cryptographic bypass: devices cannot communicate unless cryptographically paired
•Hardware and protocol agnostic, deployable over Ethernet, cellular, SATCOM, Wi-Fi, and MIL-STD-1553
•AI-powered threat detection, trained on 8 trillion Microsoft security signals, enabling autonomous cyber-immune responses
•Field-proven in space, on ships, across expeditionary bases, and inside classified SCADA labs at NSA Ft. Meade
Autonomous Key Lifecycle Management
Instead of requiring certificates, key loaders, or user-generated secrets, Isidore autonomously:
•Creates ephemeral, unique keys per communication channel
•Self-rekeys and rotates keys at operator-defined intervals
•Zeroizes keys instantly upon compromise or disconnection
This ensures that a breach in one node does not cascade to others—a critical feature in SCADA/ICS mesh and daisy-chain configurations.
AI-Driven Cyber Immunity
Isidore incorporates a machine-learning engine trained on 8 trillion threat signals from Microsoft to:
•Detect network anomalies in real time
•Alert operators to suspicious activity
•Trigger automated containment and response protocols
•Integrate threat telemetry into digital twins for visualization of the full attack surface
Zero Trust by Default
In SCADA/ICS environments with untrusted endpoints and unmanaged assets, Isidore enforces:
•Device-to-device cryptographic pairing only (no PKI or passwords)
•No implicit trust based on VLANs, IPs, or physical location
•Protocol and topology agnosticism—works across Ethernet, SATCOM, cellular, MIL-STD-1553, CAN bus, and radio
Plug-and-Play Form Factor
Available in ruggedized, compact hardware units, Isidore:
•Integrates into legacy SCADA/ICS without re-architecting
•Requires no software agents or OS-level changes
•Operates at sub-millisecond latency, even in degraded or contested environments
Conclusion
Q-Day is not a myth—it’s a countdown. SCADA and ICS system operators must act now, or risk failure when the math collapses.
Transition to Quantum-Resistant Cryptography
Isidore was invented by the NSA and licensed to Forward Edge-AI to improve and manufacture. The Isidore device is compliant with CNSA 2.0 and offers a robust solution to the challenges discussed here.
Isidore incorporates CNSA 2.0-approved algorithms, such as CRYSTALS-Kyber for key encapsulation and CRYSTALS-Dilithium for digital signatures. A notable feature of Isidore is its autonomous key and channel management system. This system facilitates periodic rekeying, key recovery, and zeroization without manual intervention, ensuring continuous security and reducing the risk of key compromise. Such automation is crucial for maintaining secure communications in dynamic and high-risk environments.
Isidore also operates on a zero-trust model, meaning it does not inherently trust any device or user, regardless of their location within the network. This approach ensures that every access request is authenticated and authorized, minimizing the risk of unauthorized access and lateral movement by potential adversaries.
Designed to be protocol, device, and network agnostic, Isidore can be integrated into existing critical infrastructure without significant modifications. Its plug-and-play design allows for rapid deployment, enabling organizations to enhance their security posture promptly in response to evolving quantum threats.
Isidore also incorporates a highly performant Rules Engine to detect and address known threats, and Machine Learning algorithms to learn the patterns of daily life, detect anomalies that may signal a novel attack, execute a cyber-immune response, and recover stronger because it has learned from the previous attack.
By deploying Isidore devices, organizations can proactively, and cost effectively harden their critical infrastructure against the anticipated capabilities of quantum computers. This forward-looking approach addresses current security challenges while ensuring resilience against future quantum advancements, safeguarding essential services and national security interests.
About
Founded in 2019, Forward Edge-AI, Inc. delivers compelling mass market solutions at the forward and humanitarian edge to enhance the safety and security of the free world. Forward Edge-AI
We partner with our clients throughout their journey to transform how they do business, address the complexities of technology choices, and deliver results fast. Our services include data modernization, integration, and engineering, designed to supercharge data workflows for maximum efficiency, security, and insights.
Contact: Brandon@Forwardedge-ai
References
1.Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). (2023). Top 10 Routinely Exploited Vulnerabilities in SCADA/ICS Environments. U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
https://www.cisa.gov
2.Fortinet & Forrester Consulting. (2018). Independent Study Pinpoints Significant SCADA/ICS Cybersecurity Risks. Fortinet, Inc.
3.Forward Edge-AI, Inc. (2025). Securing Critical Infrastructure with Quantum-Resistant Cryptography. Isidore 480 Technical Specifications White Paper.
4.Forward Edge-AI, Inc. (2025). Quantum Reckoning: Securing Finance Before the Collapse. White Paper on Financial Cryptography Threats.
5.Forward Edge-AI, Inc. (2025). Isidore Commercial Overview and CIM. Investor Communication Memorandum, Version 040925.
6.Forward Edge-AI, Inc. (2025). NSIN ICS/SCADA Pitch Deck. Prepared for National Security Innovation Network (NSIN), Contract FA864923P0006.
7.Forward Edge-AI, Inc. (2025). FEAI Quantum IPO Crossover Introduction. Presented to William Blair & Company.
8.National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). (2022). Migration to Post-Quantum Cryptography: NISTIR 8105 and SP 800-208. U.S. Department of Commerce.
https://csrc.nist.gov/publications
9.National Security Agency (NSA). (2022). Commercial National Security Algorithm Suite 2.0 (CNSA 2.0) and Quantum-Resistant Algorithms Update.
https://www.nsa.gov
10.World Economic Forum & Accenture. (2025). Embracing the Quantum Economy: A Pathway for Business Leaders. Insight Report, January 2025.
https://www.weforum.org/reports
11.IBM Security. (2023). Cost of a Data Breach Report. IBM Corporation.
https://www.ibm.com/reports/data-breach
12.U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB). (2023). M-23-02: Migrating to Post-Quantum Cryptography. White House Memorandum.
https://www.whitehouse.gov