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Quantum Defense

The curriculum

All 18 lessons

Three tracks that build on each other. Beginners start at lesson 1; engineers can jump straight to Part III and follow the links back when they need them.

Part I · No math required

Foundations

For curious beginners, students and executives. What cryptography does, what a quantum computer really is, and why everyone is suddenly in a hurry.

  1. 01What cryptography actually does12 min · 1 interactiveCryptography keeps secrets, catches tampering and proves who sent what. Meet keys, encryption, hashes and signatures, and see where quantum fits in.
  2. 02Public keys, private keys and the locked mailbox14 min · 1 interactiveHow strangers agree on secrets in public: the locked-mailbox idea behind RSA, Diffie-Hellman and signatures, and the one assumption it all rests on.
  3. 03What a quantum computer is (and isn't)14 min · 1 interactiveQubits, superposition, measurement and interference without the mysticism: what quantum computers do, why they're hard to build, and what they can't do.
  4. 04Shor's algorithm: why RSA and elliptic curves fall15 min · 1 interactiveHow Shor's algorithm turns factoring into finding a rhythm, why quantum computers find rhythms fast, and why bigger RSA or elliptic-curve keys don't help.
  5. 05Grover's algorithm: why AES survives13 min · 1 interactiveGrover's algorithm searches N items in about √N steps. Watch amplitude amplification, and see why AES-128 stays acceptable and AES-256 is cheap insurance.
  6. 06Harvest now, decrypt later14 min · 1 interactiveEncrypted data recorded today can be decrypted once a quantum computer exists. Use Mosca's inequality to see if you're already late, and what to do first.

Part II · Some tech background

Practitioner

For IT, security, compliance and product people. The new NIST standards, the government deadlines, and how a real migration runs from inventory to rollout.

  1. 07Meet the new standards: ML-KEM, ML-DSA and friends14 min · 1 interactiveFIPS 203, 204 and 205 explained for practitioners: what ML-KEM, ML-DSA and SLH-DSA do, how big they are, and which one to pick.
  2. 08Hybrid key exchange: post-quantum TLS today14 min · 1 interactiveHow X25519MLKEM768 works, which browsers and libraries already use it, what breaks, and how to check whether your connections are post-quantum.
  3. 09The deadlines: who requires what, and when13 min · 1 interactiveCNSA 2.0, NSM-10, OMB M-23-02, NIST IR 8547, the UK NCSC and the EU roadmap: the post-quantum dates that matter, what's binding and what's guidance.
  4. 10Cryptographic inventory: find it before you fix it14 min · 1 interactiveHow to find every place your organization uses cryptography, what to record, how to prioritize, and the traps that hide quantum-vulnerable keys.
  5. 11Crypto-agility: build to swap13 min · 1 interactiveWhy algorithms keep getting replaced, what crypto-agility looks like, and the design choices that turn a multi-year migration into a config change.
  6. 12Migrating certificates, code signing and firmware15 min · 1 interactiveWhy signatures migrate differently, how big post-quantum certificate chains get, where the web PKI is heading, and how to sign code and firmware.

Part III · Math and code

Engineer

For developers and engineers. Lattices and Learning With Errors, ML-KEM from the inside, hash-based signatures built from scratch, and the implementation bugs that bite.

  1. 13Lattices and Learning With Errors18 min · 1 interactiveWhy adding a little noise to linear equations makes a problem quantum computers can't shortcut, and how that noise lets you encrypt a bit.
  2. 14Inside ML-KEM20 min · 1 interactiveML-KEM from the inside: Module-LWE encryption, the NTT, compression, and the Fujisaki-Okamoto transform with implicit rejection, per FIPS 203.
  3. 15Lamport signatures: hash-based signing from scratch15 min · 1 interactiveBuild a quantum-resistant signature from nothing but a hash function, then see exactly why signing twice with one key hands an attacker forgeries.
  4. 16Winternitz chains and Merkle trees20 min · 2 interactiveShrink one-time signatures with hash chains, then put thousands of one-time keys under one 32-byte root. The engine inside LMS, XMSS and SLH-DSA.
  5. 17Implementation pitfalls: timing, state and randomness18 min · 1 interactiveThe math can be sound and the code still leaks. KyberSlash, a compiler-introduced branch, stateful-key reuse and broken RNGs, and how to avoid each.
  6. 18Cryptocurrency in a post-quantum world16 min · 1 interactiveBitcoin and Ethereum sign with secp256k1, which Shor breaks. When public keys are exposed on chain, what long and short exposure mean, and migration paths.
Finished a track?

The final exam draws 20 questions from every lesson. Pass with 80% and print a certificate.