Inventory, Agility, Reality: How FS-ISAC Sees the Path to PQC

Episode notes

As industries continue to treat cryptography as invisible plumbing, the risk of systemic disruption is growing. In this episode of Shielded: The Last Line of Cyber Defense, host Johannes Lintzen speaks with Mike Silverman, Chief Strategy & Innovation Officer at FS-ISAC, about why complacency is more dangerous than quantum itself. Mike explains how decades of one-off migrations have left organisations brittle, why inventories and risk models are the essential starting point, and how cryptographic agility must become both a design principle and an organisational mindset. They discuss why timelines like 2030 and 2035 demand phased action, how vendor and supply chain readiness can make or break success, and why PKI standards and certificate interoperability are the hidden dependencies no one can ignore. From embedding PQC into normal app modernisation cycles to reframing the conversation for the boardroom, Mike delivers a pragmatic warning: you don’t need to boil the ocean, but you must start now. What You’ll Learn: Mindset Shift: Why the biggest risk isn’t “quantum” per se, it’s assuming cryptography can be ignored until the next crisis.