The advent of quantum computing poses significant challenges to classical cryptographic systems, necessitating a global transition to post-quantum cryptography (PQC). This talk will explore the current landscape and critical milestones of this transition. A key focus will be the efforts of the NIST PQC team, which has standardized CRYSTALS-Kyber and HQC as key encapsulation mechanism (KEM) standards, alongside CRYSTALS-Dilithium, Falcon, and SPHINCS+ as digital signature standards. Further insights will be drawn from the publication of NIST's Internal Report 8547, "Transition to Post-Quantum Cryptography Standards."

Additionally, the National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence (NCCoE) at NIST is spearheading the "Migration to PQC" project, detailed in Special Publication 1800-38, which provides comprehensive guidelines to facilitate this transition. The talk will also delve into the critical importance of countermeasures against side-channel attacks as part of PQC migration. Addressing these vulnerabilities is imperative for achieving certification under higher levels of FIPS 140-3 and meeting Common Criteria standards.