The “So What?” of the NIST Quantum Resistant Cryptographic Algorithms Announcement

On 5 July 2022 NIST made a long awaited announcement of the first of four Quantum Resistant Algorithms that come from this years long process of coordination and examination. More algorithms and approaches are being evaluated and over the next two years NIST will be working on a final standard. The algorithms selected address the weaknesses proven through both Shor’s and Grover’s algorithms, meaning they are good algorithms for both general encryption and hashing.