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Verification register Security & Identity

Readiness verdict

NIST HQC (Post-Quantum Backup KEM)

A dated reading of what is claimed, reported, and independently verified in the current evidence.

As of
2026-08-20
Revision
1
Method
v1.3.0

Current reading

Readiness band and full integer triple

AI-assisted assembly · derived results

Readiness band

Emerging

Primary summary from verified readiness

Confidence
66% · stale
Computed at
2026-08-20T10:51:59.046309+00:00
Claimed
45

Public ambition and stated capability

Reported
33

Observed practitioner reporting

Verified
25

Independently supported evidence

Gap
+20

Claimed leads verified

Evidence strength Growing

Decision

What the current evidence supports

Human editorial judgment · 2026-08-20

Track; not yet

Why
HQC is explicitly a fallback, not standardized until ~2027, with much larger payloads and less-mature libraries — premature to adopt but worth tracking for crypto-agility.
Next
Continue ML-KEM (FIPS 203) migration now; monitor the HQC draft FIPS in 2026 and design KEM-agility so HQC can slot in as a hybrid backup later.

Constraints

Blockers

No named blocker is present in the current public projection.

Evidence summary

Derived counts

AI-assisted assembly

Total
9
Tier 1
0
Tier 2
5
Tier 3
4
Supports
2
Contradicts
4
Context
3
Latest observed
2026-06-28

Counts and dates only. Raw signals, private excerpts, trust records, and internal corpus material are not published here.

Publication record

Revisions

Initial public reading

  1. 2026-07-19 Reading moved from emerging to emerging.

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