Inside the Mission – Automating Cryptographic Discovery and Risk for the Quantum Era

From IC Insider Tychon

Manual Cryptography Inventory: A Hidden Operational Burden

Across the Intelligence Community (IC), cybersecurity teams have faced an unexpected challenge: finding and cataloging every instance of encryption in use. Whether it’s a TLS certificate, a VPN configuration, or an embedded algorithm in a mission system, each represents a potential vulnerability in a quantum future.

Most agencies today rely on spreadsheets, manual scripts, and ad hoc tools to attempt discovery, an approach that consumes thousands of analyst hours, delays compliance with OMB M-23-02 and NSM-10, and leaves decision-makers blind to emerging risks.

The problem isn’t effort. It’s visibility.

The Need for Continuous, Automated Discovery

Every encryption key, certificate, and cipher suite deployed across an enterprise is a potential weak point once quantum computers arrive. Agencies need more than one-time inventories; they need continuous visibility and risk scoring.

Automation is the only viable path forward. Without it, cryptographic inventories grow stale within weeks, and remediation plans are based on outdated assumptions.

Tychon Quantum Readiness delivers exactly that. Continuous, automated cryptography discovery, inventory, and risk assessment that’s built for scale and designed for the complexity of IC networks.

Engineered for Mission Simplicity

Unlike legacy cryptography management tools that require heavy infrastructure, agents, or separate consoles, Tychon deploys as a stateless binary. It runs with no persistent services or external dependencies, and it integrates directly with existing endpoint and systems management tools including BigFix, Intune, SCCM, and Ansible.

This design makes Tychon ideal for secure and air-gapped environments:

• No new agents or network appliances required
• No proprietary dashboards to train on
• Deployment measured in hours, not months
• Zero operational friction across classified and unclassified domains
• No additional servers, databases, or external calls
• Extensive reporting options to include CBOM, CSV, JSON and more

A SIEM-First Design for Real-Time Insight

Tychon’s architecture reflects a SIEM-first philosophy that is designed to feed cryptographic visibility directly into mission systems that already exist.

It integrates natively with BigFix, Elasticsearch, Splunk, Axonius, and Armis, streaming continuous diagnostics and cryptography risk telemetry into the same dashboards security teams already use.

Pre-built dashboards instantly surface:

• Protocols and ciphers in use
• Certificates nearing expiration or using deprecated algorithms
• Key lengths and curve types
• Cryptographic libraries and binaries detected in applications

 

No retraining. No console switching. No data silos.

From Static Spreadsheets to Continuous Compliance

Federal policy has accelerated the demand for live cryptographic visibility. Under OMB M-23-02, agencies must not only complete a one-time cryptography inventory but also report ongoing progress and risk posture.

Tychon automates this requirement, generating NIST-aligned reports and dashboards for OMB, NSM-10, and CISA CDM compliance frameworks.

By automating data collection, normalization, and scoring, Tychon reduces cryptographic inventory costs by up to 90 percent, eliminating more than 1,200 staff hours per reporting cycle.

Risk Scoring that Speaks the Language of Mission Owners

Not all cryptography carries equal risk. Tychon’s integrated scoring engine quantifies exposure based on algorithm age and strength, key length, implementation type, system criticality, and quantum vulnerability.

This NIST-aligned scoring model helps agency leaders to mission program managers prioritize mitigation efforts and budget allocations.

It also supports hardware readiness analysis by identifying systems unable to support PQC algorithms. This is a crucial insight for hardware budget lifecycle and modernization planning.

Security Without Trade-Offs

Security and simplicity rarely coexist, but Tychon achieves both. The self-contained binary includes all required libraries internally, eliminating dependency risks. It’s easy to hash, verify, and attest for supply-chain integrity.

Data never leaves the customer’s environment. Role-based access, audit logging, and FIPS-validated components ensure that the system meets the security bar expected by DoW, IC, and FCEB environments.

Proven at Mission Scale

Tychon’s technology is battle-tested at scale. The same engine that underpins Tychon Quantum Readiness has been operational across the U.S. Army’s global enterprise, more than 800,000 endpoints, for over eight years.

In classified and disconnected environments, Tychon continues to deliver real-time cryptographic telemetry with unmatched performance and reliability.

For the IC, this means confidence that the same solution proven in the world’s largest defense networks can extend securely into sensitive mission systems.

Why It Matters to the Intelligence Community

Quantum readiness is not a compliance checkbox, it is an operational continuity issue. Encryption is the foundation of every IC mission: protecting data at rest, authenticating users, securing communications, and maintaining trust in classified networks.

Losing confidence in that foundation could have cascading effects on national security operations.

By automating the discovery and management of cryptography, Tychon helps IC organizations transition from fragmented, manual visibility to continuous, data-driven assurance.

A New Seamless Path to PQC Readiness for BigFix Customers

BigFix customers now have the option to activate Tychon’s Quantum Readiness capabilities as a native BigFix offering, eliminating the need for additional tools or integrations. This direct integration allows agencies to perform automated cryptographic discovery and risk assessment using the same BigFix workflows they already trust for endpoint management. By leveraging BigFix’s deployment scale, agencies gain immediate visibility into quantum-vulnerable algorithms, certificates, and keys across every managed system. This new offering, known as BigFix Quantum Risk Analyzer, dramatically accelerates compliance efforts and enables a seamless path to PQC transition planning. This combined new solution will be generally available to BigFix customers for trial or purchase in January 2026.

The Future: Continuous Cryptography Intelligence

The next era of cybersecurity will not simply monitor threats, it will monitor the integrity of cryptography itself. With Tychon, agencies stream cryptographic telemetry into their preferred SIEM, business intelligence, and big data platforms for continuous diagnostics and mitigation, aligning perfectly with Zero Trust and PQC transition initiatives.

Request a live demonstration to see Tychon Quantum Readiness in action. Automate your cryptography visibility within hours, not months. Contact info@tychon.io or visit tychon.io.

About Tychon

TYCHON is a NIST NCCoE consortium collaborator and proven cybersecurity innovator delivering automated cryptography discovery and quantum-readiness solutions across U.S. Federal, DoW, and commercial enterprises. Tychon provides instant cryptographic visibility, risk assessment, and compliance reporting for the post-quantum era.

Sponsored content provided by Tychon LLC, a NIST NCCoE consortium collaborator for PQC.

About IC Insiders

IC Insiders is a special sponsored feature that provides deep-dive analysis, interviews with IC leaders, perspective from industry experts, and more. Learn how your company can become an IC Insider.