Software-Defined Cryptography: A Design Feature of Cryptographic Agility

TL;DR

This paper advocates for software-defined cryptography as a key design feature to achieve cryptographic agility, enabling seamless updates and centralized management for cryptographic standards like post-quantum cryptography.

Contribution

It introduces the concept of software-defined cryptography as a means to enhance cryptographic agility through centralized governance and automated policy enforcement.

Findings

Highlights the importance of crypto-agility in enterprise IT.

Proposes software-defined cryptography as a solution for seamless cryptographic updates.

Emphasizes centralized control and automation in cryptographic policy management.

Abstract

Given the widespread use of cryptography in Enterprise IT, migration to post-quantum cryptography (PQC) is not drop-in replacement at all. Cryptographic agility, or crypto-agility, is a design feature that enables seamless updates to new cryptographic algorithms and standards without the need to modify or replace the surrounding infrastructure. This paper introduces a notion of software-defined cryptography as the desired design feature for crypto-agility, emphasizing the role of software in providing centralized governance for cryptography and automated enforcement of cryptographic policies, such as migration to PQC.