Date Published: December 19, 2025
Author(s)
Elaine Barker (NIST), Lily Chen (NIST), David Cooper (NIST), Dustin Moody (NIST), Andrew Regenscheid (NIST), Murugiah Souppaya (NIST), William Newhouse (NIST), Russ Housley (Vigil Security), Sean Turner (sn3rd), William Barker (Strativia), Karen Kent (Trusted Cyber Annex)
Cryptographic (crypto) agility refers to the capabilities needed to replace and adapt cryptographic algorithms in protocols, applications, software, hardware, firmware, and infrastructures while preserving security and ongoing operations. This white paper provides an in-depth survey of current approaches to achieving crypto agility. It discusses challenges and trade-offs and identifies approaches for providing operational mechanisms to achieve crypto agility. It also highlights critical working areas that require additional consideration.
Cryptographic (crypto) agility refers to the capabilities needed to replace and adapt cryptographic algorithms in protocols, applications, software, hardware, firmware, and infrastructures while preserving security and ongoing operations. This white paper provides an in-depth survey of current...
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Cryptographic (crypto) agility refers to the capabilities needed to replace and adapt cryptographic algorithms in protocols, applications, software, hardware, firmware, and infrastructures while preserving security and ongoing operations. This white paper provides an in-depth survey of current approaches to achieving crypto agility. It discusses challenges and trade-offs and identifies approaches for providing operational mechanisms to achieve crypto agility. It also highlights critical working areas that require additional consideration.
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Keywords
cryptographic agility; cryptographic algorithm; cryptographic application programming interface (API); cryptographic risk management; cryptographic transition
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