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Definition


CRYPTO-AGILITY


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By
 * Alexander S. Gillis, Technical Writer and Editor


WHAT IS CRYPTO-AGILITY?

Crypto-agility, or cryptographic agility, is a data encryption practice used by
organizations to ensure a rapid response to a cryptographic threat. The idea is
to adapt to an alternative cryptographic standard quickly without making any
major changes to infrastructure.

Cryptography is the method of protecting information and communications using
hard-to-decipher codes so that only the intended recipient can process and read
the information. Cryptography uses mathematical and rule-based algorithms to
secure information. Crypto-agility is an additional safety measure for
organizations; it can also be seen as an incident response mechanism.

Typically, crypto-agility is used when the encryption algorithm of a system is
discovered to be vulnerable. Other use cases include when an algorithm breaks
suddenly or when there's a security compromise. If one of these cases arises, an
organization needs to be able to switch to using a different encryption method
quickly to minimize damage. This process includes switching out cryptographic
algorithms, security keys, certificates and other crypto technologies.

Organizations will use cryptography broadly in their environments, such as in
Transport Layer Security and Secure Socket Shells. Typically, mission-critical
communication systems will also make use of crypto-agility. Without
crypto-agility, if an organization's cryptographic systems are compromised, they
may be open to attack, leading to loss of business.


IMPORTANCE OF CRYPTO-AGILITY

Cryptographic techniques don't stay secure forever. For example, increasing
computing power also leads to the increased ability for hostile programs to
successfully break previously secure cryptographic functions. Before this
happens, previous cryptographic systems -- such as public key encryption, key
exchange and digital signatures -- must be switched over to new encryption
systems to stay secure. Crypto-agility is also a relatively sustainable
practice, meaning this process won't become a liability.

One of the main strengths of quantum computing is its power to crack classic
crypto systems. As a result, quantum computing is beginning to pose a threat to
modern cryptography. Just having one enterprise encryption strategy isn't viable
if an organization wants to ensure secure connections. Being able to switch over
to a different cryptography system is imperative. Quantum cryptography systems
and quantum key distribution (QKD) are able to aid against some of the major
issues facing modern cryptography. However, QKD only focuses on secure key
distribution.

Although post-quantum security is not an issue for all organizations today, some
experts believe that those needing to secure data over time should aim toward
crypto-agility above all else.




HOW TO ACHIEVE CRYPTO-AGILITY

To set up and achieve crypto-agility, an organization must do the following:

 * Define policies. Ensure that everyone in the organization knows what is
   needed to secure their systems and who is responsible for what.
 * Determine group responsibility. Each group is responsible for having and
   maintaining an inventory of their assets. This allows each team to react
   quickly to any threats.
 * Central organization. This will most likely be a security group that will
   help develop an inventory and provide any necessary tools. Each team will
   then need to make sure they can use each tool.

On the hardware side, crypto-agility is achieved by adopting new frameworks for
incident response and application development. In addition, a layer of software
is required for cryptographic application programming interfaces (APIs) and
secure update mechanisms.


CRYPTO-AGILITY BEST PRACTICES

Best practices surrounding crypto-agility include the need for the following:

 * Develop a method for tracking ownership.
 * Automate as many areas as possible, such as management and replacement
   tracking.
 * Inventory all crypto assets.
 * Have good visibility and a good understanding of who owns what.
 * Ensure crypto technology uses the latest cryptography techniques and
   algorithms.
 * Use high bit sizes for hash algorithms.
 * Identify vulnerabilities.


HOW TO IMPROVE CRYPTO-AGILITY

To improve crypto-agility practices, organizations can do the following:

 * Ensure visibility, meaning an organization should have a full understanding
   of where and how cryptography is used throughout their infrastructure.
 * Ensure the correct teams or groups retain ownership of their assigned crypto
   assets.
 * Ensure any used hardware vendors are quick to release updates or security
   patches or else an organization might need to switch their cryptography
   methods more often.


HISTORY OF CRYPTO-AGILITY

The first cryptographic standards were introduced in the 1970s, when
cryptographic algorithms were first used for symmetric-key encryption, digital
signatures and hash functions. There have been many cryptographic standards
since this time, including RSA (Rivest, Shamir and Adleman), AES (Advanced
Encryption Standard) and ECC (elliptic curve cryptography).

Since the 2010s, public key infrastructure (PKI) has been integrated into
business applications using public key certificates. However, as time goes on,
algorithms will become weak and insecure. For example, Data Encryption Standard
(DES) used to be a symmetric encryption standard, but is now seen as weak since
it has too small of a key length. MD5 (Message Digest 5) and SHA1 (Secure Hash
Algorithm 1) were well-known hash functions that were broken. RSA-1024 was a
standard for asymmetric encryption, but it became ineffective when key sizes
changed.

New standards, such as ECC, will also weaken over time. Whenever a cryptographic
standard is broken, it needs to be replaced with other cryptographic standards.
The method of adapting -- crypto-agility -- came from this pattern.

With the threat of quantum computing in the future, organizations such as NIST
are starting to research new cryptographic standardization methods. It predicts
quantum computing will defeat modern public key cryptography algorithms, so new
approaches, such as QKD, must be introduced.

This was last updated in April 2023

CONTINUE READING ABOUT CRYPTO-AGILITY

 * How to prepare for post-quantum computing security

 * What’s happening with quantum-safe cryptography?

 * Why you should start your post-quantum encryption migration now



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