Hybrid Clouds Provide a Practical Approach to Post-Quantum Migration
Summary
The article explains a pragmatic path for organisations to begin migrating to post-quantum cryptography (PQC) by leveraging hybrid-cloud architectures. It highlights that upgrading TLS on on-premises systems — primarily by moving to OpenSSL 3.5+ which supports PQC hybrid key exchanges — can provide quantum-resistant in-transit protection with minimal disruption.
The piece outlines vendor considerations, the need for end-to-end PQ support (or a cloud-side TLS proxy), and simple validation steps such as runtime linkage checks and inspecting TLS handshakes with tools like Wireshark.
Key Points
- PQC migration is lengthy and resource intensive — expect multi-year programmes for full inventory and replacement.
- Hybrid-cloud TLS channels are a practical early target because they carry sensitive data between cloud and on-prem systems.
- OpenSSL 3.5+ adds support for PQC hybrid key exchanges, meaning many on-prem workloads can become quantum-resistant with a library upgrade rather than app rewrites.
- Cloud provider support varies: some offer PQ TLS already, others will need a PQ TLS proxy on the cloud side for end-to-end protection.
- Practical hardening steps: identify sensitive workloads, confirm OpenSSL usage, upgrade to OpenSSL 3.5+, verify runtime linkage (e.g. ldd), and inspect TLS handshakes for PQ identifiers.
Context and Relevance
As quantum-capable machines approach practical capability, organisations in regulated sectors (finance, healthcare, government) must balance long-term PQC migration plans with near-term risk reduction. Securing data in-transit via TLS hardening is low-hanging fruit: many common on-prem services (Apache, NGINX, MySQL, Redis, MongoDB, etc.) already support OpenSSL 3.x and can therefore adopt PQ-capable key exchanges quickly.
Author’s take
Punchy: This is actionable advice rather than theory. The author — a lead software engineer working on production-ready PQC — zeroes in on an immediate, achievable mitigation that won’t break your estate: upgrade libraries, verify linkage, and talk to your cloud vendor.
Why should I read this?
Short answer: because it tells you exactly where to start without upending everything. If you’re responsible for securing data flows, this article saves you time by pointing to a practical, low-disruption step — OpenSSL 3.5+ and TLS inspection — so you can get meaningful PQ protection now while planning the bigger migration.