SandboxAQ is collaborating with the Department of War (DoW) Chief Information Officer (CIO) to accelerate the discovery and inventory of cryptographic assets within the DoW’s systems. This initiative leverages SandboxAQ’s AQtive Guard platform for comprehensive, automated cryptographic discovery and inventory (ACDI), building on a successful demonstration within the DISA Emerging Technology’s QRC PKI program. With Gartner predicting traditional cryptography will be unsafe by 2029 due to quantum computing, this agreement facilitates a managed transition to post-quantum cryptography (PQC) and enhances the DoW’s overall cyber readiness against increasingly sophisticated AI-powered attacks.
Post-Quantum Cryptography Migration and Implementation
The Department of War (DoW) is undertaking a five-year agreement with SandboxAQ to accelerate its transition to post-quantum cryptography (PQC). This initiative focuses on discovering and inventorying cryptographic assets within the DoW’s systems, establishing a foundational step for managed PQC migration and enhanced cyber readiness. Building on a successful demonstration with DISA, the DoW CIO will utilize SandboxAQ’s AQtive Guard platform for comprehensive, automated cryptographic discovery and inventory (ACDI).
AQtive Guard provides a centralized platform for managing cryptographic security, enabling organizations to efficiently discover and inventory cryptographic assets and dependencies. This is crucial as Gartner warns that quantum computing will render traditional cryptography unsafe by 2029, necessitating urgent migration to PQC. The agreement also allows other DoW agencies access to AQtive Guard, fostering a department-wide understanding of their cryptographic footprint.
SandboxAQ’s technology addresses both AI-driven and quantum threats, supporting the DoW CIO’s dedication to modernizing cybersecurity practices. AQtive Guard offers continuous visibility into cryptographic assets, allowing agencies to anticipate and counter emerging threats amid accelerating AI adoption and increasing systems complexity. The company emerged from Alphabet Inc. and delivers solutions at the intersection of AI and quantum techniques via Large Quantitative Models (LQMs).
AQtive Guard Platform for Cryptographic Asset Management
The Department of War (DoW) Chief Information Officer is utilizing SandboxAQ’s AQtive Guard platform to accelerate the discovery and inventory of cryptographic assets within its systems. This is a key initial step for a managed transition to post-quantum cryptography (PQC), bolstering overall cyber readiness. Building on a successful demonstration with DISA, AQtive Guard provides comprehensive, automated cryptographic discovery and inventory (ACDI), giving the DoW a centralized platform for managing cryptographic security.
AQtive Guard’s implementation addresses growing concerns about increasingly sophisticated AI-powered attacks and the looming threat of quantum computing. Gartner predicts that quantum computing will render traditional cryptography unsafe by 2029, making proactive migration to PQC essential. The platform provides continuous visibility into cryptographic assets, enabling agencies to anticipate and counter emerging threats amid increasing system complexity and AI adoption.
SandboxAQ’s AQtive Guard is designed to empower organizations to efficiently discover and inventory cryptographic assets and dependencies. This agreement with the DoW CIO paves the way for other agencies within the department to access and implement the platform, establishing a foundational understanding of their cryptographic footprint. The company, originating from Alphabet Inc., delivers solutions at the intersection of AI and quantum techniques through its Large Quantitative Models (LQMs).
The challenge of cryptographic asset discovery is compounded by the sheer volume and ephemeral nature of modern IT infrastructure. Traditional security auditing fails when assets are embedded deep within proprietary, legacy systems or microservices architecture. AQtive Guard overcomes this limitation by employing sophisticated graph theory mapping and continuous runtime analysis, allowing it to map dependencies not just by file signature, but by behavioral data flow. This granular understanding is vital, as the migration process requires knowing not just *what* encryption is used, but *where* the encrypted data is actually utilized and consumed.
From a technical perspective, the transition to Post-Quantum Cryptography involves several NIST-standardized families of algorithms designed to resist attacks from both classical and quantum computers. The shift represents moving away from the computational hardness problems underpinning current schemes, such as factoring large integers (RSA) or discrete logarithms (ECC). SandboxAQ’s platform aids in this complex transition by providing the essential cryptographic inventory needed to assess risk, determining which assets must be upgraded to lattice-based cryptography or other quantum-resistant alternatives before their cryptographic ‘shelf life’ expires.
The interplay between artificial intelligence and quantum threat vectors introduces novel security complexities that ACDI must address. AI-powered adversaries can rapidly analyze network traffic patterns to deduce weaknesses or identify mismanaged keys, increasing the attack surface exponentially. By integrating AI analysis into the cryptographic discovery process, AQtive Guard effectively provides proactive defense mechanisms. It doesn’t just identify weak crypto; it correlates potential weak points with observable threat vectors, giving DoW operators actionable, predictive insights into security degradation.
Implementing a department-wide PQC migration is less a technological challenge and more a complex systems engineering undertaking involving thousands of stakeholders. Successful adoption requires meticulous change management and the establishment of verifiable cryptographic boundaries across disparate organizational units. The five-year commitment underscores this reality: it acknowledges that PQC is not a single patch, but a holistic, multi-phased architectural overhaul requiring continuous validation and iterative dependency mapping across mission-critical systems.
The DoW CIO is dedicated to modernizing its cybersecurity practices as attacks increase in both intensity and sophistication.
Jack Hidary, CEO of SandboxAQ
