As quantum computing advances move from theoretical concern to operational planning issue, Entrust and IBM announced a new collaboration aimed at helping enterprises modernize their cryptographic infrastructure and build a roadmap toward quantum-safe security.
The partnership combines IBM Consulting’s quantum-safe advisory and migration services with Entrust’s cryptographic security and PKI capabilities to help organizations gain visibility into fragmented encryption environments, reduce operational risk and transition to post-quantum cryptography (PQC).
Quantum Risk Moves Into the Boardroom
For many enterprises, cryptographic risk is no longer a distant issue. Growing concern over “harvest now, decrypt later” attacks, where adversaries collect encrypted data today in anticipation of future quantum decryption capabilities, has elevated encryption resilience to a board-level topic, particularly in regulated sectors and organizations managing long-lived sensitive data.
At the same time, many organizations continue to operate with what security leaders describe as “cryptographic sprawl,” where certificates, keys and secrets are distributed across legacy systems, cloud workloads, applications and DevOps pipelines under inconsistent governance models.
That fragmented approach can create blind spots, outages, compliance gaps and slower response times when cryptographic standards change.
Unified Control Plane for Enterprise Cryptography
The joint offering centers on the Entrust Cryptographic Security Platform, designed to serve as a centralized control plane for enterprise cryptography. According to the companies, the platform provides continuous discovery, policy enforcement and lifecycle automation across certificates, keys and secrets.
By pairing that technology with IBM Consulting’s transformation services, the companies say enterprises can move beyond one-time cryptographic assessments and adopt an ongoing governance model tied to business risk and compliance priorities.
The collaboration is intended to help organizations systematically reduce “cryptographic debt” while improving crypto-agility—the ability to rapidly adapt cryptographic controls as threats and standards evolve.
What the Joint Solution Includes
The companies said the combined services will focus on three core areas:
Enterprise-wide discovery and risk assessment
Continuous visibility into cryptographic assets, including certificates, keys, secrets, algorithms and trust anchors, with exposure mapped to business services and regulatory requirements.
Business-aligned migration planning
Use of IBM Consulting’s Quantum Safe Migration Orchestrator to prioritize remediation and transition efforts based on operational and compliance needs.
Managed execution and governance
Phased migration support, policy enforcement, lifecycle automation and assistance with hybrid and post-quantum cryptographic deployments.
Executive Perspective
“With regulatory expectations increasing and quantum computing advances continuing to accelerate, organizations can no longer treat quantum risk as a future concern,” said Dinesh Nagarajan, executive partner and global service line leader for quantum-safe and data security at IBM Consulting, in a statement.
Mike Baxter, chief technology and product officer at Entrust, said effective quantum preparedness begins with gaining control over cryptography across applications, identities, clouds and infrastructure.
Why It Matters for Security Leaders
For CISOs and security architects, the challenge is no longer simply identifying future quantum threats—it is understanding where cryptography resides today, how it supports critical business processes and how quickly it can be replaced or upgraded.
That makes cryptographic asset management, policy standardization and migration readiness central pillars of enterprise resilience.
As organizations face tightening compliance mandates and increasing pressure to demonstrate cyber maturity, partnerships like this reflect a broader market shift: post-quantum readiness is becoming an operational security program, not just a research initiative.
Resources:
- Identity Thread podcast episode: Hear directly from Entrust and IBM experts on why post‑quantum timelines are compressing – and what organizations must do now to move beyond cryptographic discovery to real post-quantum deployment. Tune in now to learn more: https://www.entrust.com/resources/identity-thread/podcasts/from-discovery-to-deployment-solving-the-pq-timeline-compression-challenge
- Webinar: In this joint session, IBM Consulting and Entrust experts share how organizations can achieve enterprise-wide cryptographic maturity and quantum-safe transformation with AI-accelerated orchestration: https://www.entrust.com/resources/webinarscommid=667335&bt_tok=FastPass_Token1