About & Methodology

PQC Tracker is an operational reference for the post-quantum cryptography transition. It covers PQC algorithms and their standardization status, regulatory mandates issued by governments and recognized standards bodies, issuing organizations, and compliance milestones — all sourced from primary documents and consolidated into a structured, searchable format so practitioners can quickly assess where their systems stand.

The intended audience is practitioners with accountability for cryptographic compliance: CISSP and CISM holders, PKI architects, compliance leads, and agency IT security officers. It is not written for a general audience — it assumes familiarity with concepts like key encapsulation mechanisms, digital signature schemes, and certificate lifecycle management. In scope are official government directives, regulatory instruments, and recognized standards body publications only. Media coverage, vendor guidance, and industry association white papers are explicitly out of scope.

Mandates are included only when they originate from an official primary source — a published government directive, regulation, memorandum, or recognized standards body specification. Secondary reporting, vendor summaries, or advocacy positions are not included regardless of accuracy.

Requirement levels are assigned as follows: REQUIRED means the obligation is explicitly mandated in authoritative text with no discretion left to the implementer. RECOMMENDED means the algorithm or measure is officially encouraged or preferred, but non-adoption does not constitute a violation. NOTEDmeans the algorithm or measure is referenced or acknowledged within the mandate's scope but carries no prescriptive force.

Data is updated on a best-effort basis as new mandates are issued or existing ones are amended. Community corrections are welcomed — see the Submit section below. Always verify entries against the linked primary source before making compliance decisions.

Saqib Ahmad is a cybersecurity professional with 25+ years of hands-on experience in cryptographic security, public key infrastructure, and secure authentication. He holds a CISSP certification and has deep technical expertise spanning hardware security modules (HSM), secure element development, Java Card security architecture, and cryptographic key lifecycle management.

He has contributed to standards development through bodies including Java Card Forum, ETSI, and GlobalPlatform, and has led post-quantum cryptography initiatives in production environments, including PQC integration in network security infrastructure, giving him direct operational experience with the mandate landscape this site tracks.

He holds an MBA from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Bachelor's degrees in Computer Science and Journalism.