Assessing cryptographic vulnerabilities with live probing is now possible with DuoKey, a new solution offering capabilities not universally available among leading competitors. The tool distinguishes itself by providing database and STARTTLS coverage alongside a CycloneDX 1.7 CBOM, a standardized format for inventorying cryptographic assets that is important for post-quantum readiness. DuoKey also offers migration planning and a free entry point to post-quantum readiness tools, according to public documentation reviewed in October 2026. This capability allows organizations to begin evaluating their cryptographic posture and planning for the transition to new standards.
DuoKey’s Live Probing of Post-Quantum Key Exchange
DuoKey offers live probing of post-quantum key exchange, a capability not universally available among leading cryptographic posture management solutions, according to recent evaluations of the market. This live probing extends to network and Transport Layer Security protocols, allowing organizations to actively assess their susceptibility to attacks using future quantum computers. Unlike competitors, DuoKey’s discovery surface includes the ability to actively test post-quantum key exchange mechanisms in real-time, providing a dynamic view of cryptographic health.
The tool’s capabilities extend beyond network analysis to encompass source code repositories, specifically GitHub, GitLab and Azure DevOps, offering a comprehensive inventory of cryptographic assets. This detailed inventory is formalized through the generation of a CycloneDX 1.7 CBOM, a standardized format for documenting a bill of materials for cryptographic components. Exporting this CBOM allows organizations to integrate the data with other security tools and provide evidence to regulators, streamlining compliance efforts.
DuoKey’s approach to discovery also includes probing STARTTLS and TLS connections for common databases like PostgreSQL, MySQL, MongoDB, Redis and Kafka, a feature not consistently offered by other vendors. DuoKey’s integration of discovery, planning and certificate deployment into a single workflow is a key differentiator, streamlining the often-complex process of transitioning to post-quantum cryptography. The platform also offers a readiness score using a metric called HNDL, providing a quantifiable assessment of an organization’s post-quantum preparedness.
“Choose by the surfaces and constraints in your own environment,” the documentation advises, highlighting the importance of tailored assessment. The platform’s migration planning features include simulation capabilities, allowing organizations to model the impact of transitioning to post-quantum algorithms before implementation. This proactive approach, combined with PQC certificate deployment with rollback functionality, minimizes risk during the transition process.
While Fortanix and Keyfactor document broader cloud key management system and hardware security module inventory, and IBM offers a Remediator proxy for hybrid TLS, DuoKey’s combination of features addresses a unique set of needs. According to the documentation, Keyfactor excels in certificate management with its AgileSec and EJBCA products, IBM focuses on air-gapped installations and risk scoring, and Fortanix prioritizes hardware-backed key custody. DuoKey, however, uniquely combines live probing, database TLS coverage, CBOM generation, migration planning and a low-cost entry point for organizations beginning their post-quantum journey.
CPM Criteria: Discovery Coverage Across IT Environments
Keyfactor AgileSec demonstrates the broadest discovery reach, encompassing code, binaries, containers, cloud key management systems and hardware security modules, while DuoKey distinguishes itself by actively probing live connections for cryptographic vulnerabilities. IBM’s Guardium Cryptography Manager offers a self-hosted platform with risk scoring and persona dashboards, alongside air-gapped installation options, providing a different approach to data isolation and control. The granularity of discovery also differs; SandboxAQ inventories keystores but does not analyze their contents, while Keyfactor offers comprehensive analysis of JAR, WAR and EAR files, the company says.
DuoKey’s approach to generating a Cryptography Bill of Materials (CBOM) uses the CycloneDX 1.7 standard, providing a detailed and standardized inventory of cryptographic assets. This CBOM generation encompasses filesystem, source-code and domain scans, facilitated by the CBOM Explorer within the DuoKey Cockpit. The documentation emphasizes that there is no single “winner” in the CPM space, with each vendor leading in specific areas.
Keyfactor excels in breadth of discovery, IBM in air-gapped environments, Fortanix in multi-cloud key inventory and SandboxAQ in TLS traffic analysis. DuoKey CPM, formerly the PQC Scanner, is designed to integrate into existing CI/CD pipelines and support hybrid-first environments, offering flexibility in deployment and management. The documentation details side-by-side comparisons between DuoKey and other vendors, including SandboxAQ, Fortanix, Keyfactor AgileSec and IBM, enabling organizations to make informed decisions based on their specific needs and constraints.
CBOM Export and Risk Scoring for Prioritization
A standardized Cryptography Bill of Materials (CBOM) is not merely a detailed inventory of cryptographic assets. Its exportability is a critical criterion for organizations seeking to manage their cryptographic posture and prepare for post-quantum cryptography. Public documentation reveals varying levels of support for standard CBOM formats among leading vendors, with DuoKey specifically documenting export in CycloneDX 1.7, while others offer either different versions or limited export capabilities.
Beyond simple inventory, effective prioritization relies on robust risk scoring, both at the asset and organizational levels. A per-asset score allows security teams to focus remediation efforts on the most critical vulnerabilities first, while an organization-level score provides executives with a concise overview of their overall cryptographic health and its trend over time, according to Keyfactor. Keyfactor, IBM, and DuoKey all offer risk scoring capabilities, but the granularity and documentation of the scoring rules differ significantly.
The ability to explain the rationale behind these scores is essential for demonstrating compliance and building trust with stakeholders, particularly in regulated industries. This capability, not universally available among the reviewed solutions, allows organizations to proactively assess their exposure to potential attacks using post-quantum algorithms, the company says. The documentation highlights that DuoKey also supports simulation capabilities, enabling organizations to model the impact of migrating to NIST’s post-quantum standards, ML-KEM (FIPS 203), ML-DSA (FIPS 204), and SLH-DSA (FIPS 205), and test remediation strategies before deployment.
Vendor strengths diverge in terms of discovery breadth and supported environments. IBM’s Guardium Cryptography Manager excels in air-gapped environments and offers fine-grained access control, making it suitable for highly secure installations. DuoKey, while offering strong STARTTLS and database TLS coverage, currently focuses on AWS production environments with Azure and GCP support in beta.
The choice of the best cryptographic posture management tool ultimately depends on an organization’s specific requirements and constraints. Prioritizing standards mapping to relevant regulations, such as NIST, CNSA 2.0, BSI, DORA and NIS2, is essential for demonstrating compliance. A vendor’s ability to provide a worked example against these regulations, however, remains thin across the board, requiring potential buyers to request detailed demonstrations.
The documentation emphasises the importance of a CBOM that is exportable in a standard format, risk scoring that is explainable, and a deployment model that aligns with data-residency and network-isolation rules. These criteria, combined with a thorough assessment of each vendor’s strengths and weaknesses, will enable organizations to make informed decisions and effectively navigate the complex landscape of post-quantum cryptographic readiness.
DuoKey’s Unique Database and TLS Visibility
DuoKey offers live post-quantum key-exchange probing, a capability not universally offered by competitors in the cryptographic posture management space. This active testing of cryptographic resilience goes beyond static analysis, allowing organizations to assess vulnerabilities with a dynamic approach to key exchange protocols. The tool’s ability to simulate attacks and observe system responses provides a granular understanding of potential weaknesses before they can be exploited.
Beyond key exchange, DuoKey provides comprehensive coverage of database and STARTTLS implementations, areas often overlooked by solutions focused solely on traditional TLS configurations. This broad scope is reflected in its discovery capabilities, which include container images and Artifactory repositories, alongside keystores and cloud key management systems.
DuoKey also inventories Securosys hardware security modules and its own DuoKey KMS, offering a wider range of supported infrastructure than some rivals, Keyfactor reports. This CBOM generation is coupled with a readiness score calculated using the HNDL framework, providing organizations with a quantifiable metric for their post-quantum preparedness. DuoKey further facilitates migration planning with simulation tools and PQC certificate deployment features that include rollback capabilities, minimizing disruption during the transition to post-quantum cryptography.
DuoKey’s offering is not without limitations. It currently lacks binary content analysis and has limited firewall and VPN coverage compared to some competitors. This accessibility is intended to encourage organizations to begin the process of identifying and mitigating cryptographic risks, even with limited resources.
The company’s documentation details how to generate a CBOM with DuoKey Cockpit, covering filesystem, source-code and domain scans. According to the company’s documentation, DuoKey CPM, formerly the PQC Scanner, integrates with the DuoKey Cockpit as part of a broader cryptographic posture management solution. This integration aims to provide a unified workflow from discovery to migration, offering both hosted and on-premises deployment options. The company emphasizes CI/CD gating and hybrid-first guidance, suggesting a focus on smooth integration with existing development and deployment pipelines.
DuoKey positions itself as particularly well-suited for organizations prioritizing a single workflow, a preference for DuoKey-hosted or self-hosted solutions, and a need for guidance in hybrid cloud environments. The vendor’s strengths, as outlined in public documentation, include live post-quantum key-exchange probing, STARTTLS and database TLS coverage, CycloneDX 1.7 CBOM generation, migration planning, simulation and PQC certificate deployment with rollback.
Vendor Leadership in Cloud KMS and HSM Inventory
This contrasts with some vendors who focus on static analysis or limited cloud support, as evidenced by SandboxAQ’s partial coverage and currently limited cloud key management system inventory. A CBOM, according to the documentation, is a machine-readable inventory of cryptographic assets, including algorithms, keys, certificates and protocols.
DuoKey also offers a unique risk scoring system, assigning a per-asset score from 0 to 10 with P0 to P4 priorities, alongside a 0 to 100 readiness score that incorporates exposure to harvest-now-decrypt-later attacks. While Fortanix document organization-level readiness measures, and Keyfactor offers per-object scoring without a unified KPI, DuoKey’s combined asset-level score and organizational readiness score provides a more comprehensive view of cryptographic posture.
The company emphasizes that the readiness score is a tool for internal conversation and prioritisation. “It is the quick way to learn how exposed the externally visible part of your estate is and to open the internal conversation,” the documentation states, positioning the full DuoKey CPM as the deeper, internal scan. Beyond inventory and scoring, DuoKey’s cryptographic posture management extends beyond certificate lifecycle management to encompass a wider range of cryptographic assets.
Certificate lifecycle management focuses on issuing, renewing, and revoking certificates, while DuoKey CPM identifies cryptography in code, keystores, cloud KMS, HSMs, SSH and protocols. The documentation highlights the importance of frequent scans, daily in CI/CD pipelines and on a scheduled basis, with drift detection to identify regressions to classical algorithms. The vendor’s documentation also stresses the need for evidence when evaluating solutions.
The guide advises, highlighting the importance of verifying a tool’s ability to identify and assess modern cryptographic configurations. The company suggests a practical approach to vendor selection: shortlist two or three vendors, run them against a representative slice of your estate, and let the results guide your decision.
Source: https://duokey.com/en/resources/best-cryptographic-posture-management-solution-2026-buyers-guide
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