Breaking down the new NIST post-quantum cryptography standards with OMB’s Nick Polk

With the long-awaited release of NIST’s post-quantum cryptographic standards last week, there’s work ahead for federal agencies to make sure they’re ready for the age of quantum. Nick Polk, senior adviser on cybersecurity in the Office of the Federal CIO, joins the podcast to break down the significance of the new standards, how the White House is coordinating government and industry to take next steps, and what else agencies should be thinking about regarding their cybersecurity in the future.

U.S. intelligence agencies have accused Iran of being behind attempts to infiltrate the Trump presidential campaign and said Tehran has also tried to spy on the Biden campaign, according to a statement released Monday. The statement comes after several cybersecurity companies released reports that detailed Iran-linked operations, including fake news campaigns and attempts to phish a high-ranking presidential campaign official.

And, Bill Streilein, the Pentagon Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office’s first technology chief who helped set the foundation for that nascent defense tech hub, is departing the Pentagon to return to academia. In a statement shared exclusively with DefenseScoop by a spokesperson Monday morning ahead of the official announcement, CDAO leadership thanked Streilein for “his immense technical leadership over the last two years as he prepares to transition back to MIT Lincoln Labs at the end of the summer.”

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