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Foundations

Post-Quantum Cryptography Foundations

Quantum computing does not threaten all cryptography equally. This course distinguishes vulnerable classical public-key mechanisms from symmetric and hash operations, explains the NIST replacement standards, and traces a synthetic protection path from key exchange to certificates and backups. Written practice and a full architecture case show how to inventory, test, and sequence a bounded migration.

BeginnerLevel
90-120 minutesEst. workload
8Lessons
60 min 43 secLesson films (8)

Who this course is for: Engineers, security professionals, architects, technology leaders, and anyone new to post-quantum cryptography.

Estimated breakdown: 59 min reading, 33 min optional written practice, and 15 min for the final assessment. These are author estimates, not timed requirements.

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The core question

"What is post-quantum cryptography, and why does it matter?"

Outcomes

What you can do when you finish.

  • Distinguish the Shor-related exposure of common classical public-key schemes from the different quantum considerations for symmetric cryptography and hashing.
  • Explain the roles of ML-KEM, ML-DSA, and SLH-DSA, and distinguish final standards from algorithms still being standardized.
  • Interpret what an observed hybrid key exchange protects and what it does not establish about authentication or other connection hops.
  • Apply Mosca's inequality to explain why migration urgency does not depend on knowing when a capable quantum computer will exist.
  • Describe the practical constraints — inventory, dependencies, protocol limits, third parties — that make a migration a multi-year program, and where to start one.

Topics

What the course covers.

Symmetric versus public-key cryptographyShor's algorithm and what it breaksGrover's algorithm and symmetric cryptographyHash functions in a post-quantum worldThe NIST post-quantum standards: ML-KEM, ML-DSA, SLH-DSALattice-based, hash-based, and code-based cryptographyHybrid key exchange and the confidentiality-authentication gapPost-quantum key and signature sizesCrypto agilityPlanning a cryptography migration

Course outline

Modules and lessons.

Module 1

What quantum computing changes

Two quantum algorithms threaten two different kinds of cryptography, by very different amounts. This module separates the two before drawing any conclusions about what to do.

  1. The exposed half7 min read7 min 37 sec

    Modern cryptography is really two disciplines with two different failure modes. This lesson separates them before quantum computing enters the picture.

  2. Shor's algorithm7 min read7 min 49 sec

    The algorithm that gives public-key cryptography an expiration date, and the one qualifier that belongs next to every mention of it.

  3. Grover and symmetric crypto8 min read7 min 9 sec

    A quadratic speedup is real but far smaller than what Shor's algorithm does to public-key cryptography — why AES-256 and SHA-256 stay on NIST's list of acceptable algorithms.

Module 2

The post-quantum toolkit

What quantum-safe means, the NIST standards that define it, and the two-tier reality — hybrid key exchange in transport today, authentication still largely classical — that every migration has to reckon with.

  1. What quantum-safe means7 min read7 min 3 sec

    NIST's first three finalized post-quantum standards, what each replaces, and the two items still in progress.

  2. The math behind the standards7 min read7 min 26 sec

    A working vocabulary for lattice-based, hash-based, and code-based cryptography, and why NIST wanted more than one family.

  3. Hybrid exchange and signatures8 min read7 min 6 sec

    What a hybrid TLS handshake protects today, the gap between confidentiality and authentication, and why bigger keys and signatures are a real constraint.

Module 3

Preparing

Crypto agility, why a migration runs to years rather than months, and where a program actually starts.

  1. Crypto agility7 min read7 min 48 sec

    Why the durable goal is a system that can change its cryptography without a rewrite, not a single algorithm swap.

  2. Where to start8 min read8 min 44 sec

    Why migration takes years, and a concrete sequence for starting one anyway.

Credential

PQC Foundations — Certificate of Completion

Awarded after the final assessment, which is graded server-side so the score cannot be a number the browser chose.

Distinguishing quantum-vulnerable cryptography from quantum-resistant cryptographyReading and explaining the NIST post-quantum standards (ML-KEM, ML-DSA, SLH-DSA)Evaluating hybrid key exchange and its current limitsApplying Mosca's inequality to migration urgencyScoping the first steps of a post-quantum migration

Every issued credential can be checked at RelixQ Academy credential verification.

Final assessment

16 questions · 80% to pass

Scenario-based, timed only by your own pace. Retake it as many times as you need.

Go to the final assessment