Forescout has announced the development of a first-of-its-kind solution to detect non-quantum-safe encryption in real time — a vital breakthrough in securing enterprise infrastructure ahead of the quantum computing era.
“Quantum computing is no longer a far-off concept,” said Barry Mainz, CEO of Forescout. “It’s a fast-approaching reality that will challenge the foundations of digital trust. Every organization, public or private, needs to start thinking about post-quantum resilience across IT, OT, and IoT environments today. This is a rare opportunity to get ahead of a generational shift in cybersecurity before urgency overtakes strategy.”
Forescout’s technology, used in the Forescout 4D Platform, works by analysing the cryptographic ciphers each device supports, scoring them against post-quantum safety standards, and surfacing encryption risk — whether the device is managed or unmanaged, compliant or evasive. Positioned at the network layer, Forescout can detect risky encryption usage even when devices attempt to hide their identity or posture.
“As organizations prepare for a post-quantum future, detecting systems using outdated encryption is critical,” said Robert McNutt, Chief Strategy Officer at Forescout Technologies, Inc. “Forescout is already delivering on this with our patented technology — the only solution that identifies non-quantum-safe ciphers in real time.”
Forescout has also released new research showing that most connected devices remain critically unprotected against emerging quantum computing threats.
Key findings include:
- Only 6% of 186 million SSH servers on the Internet support quantum-safe encryption methods.
- Fewer than 20% of global communications use Transport Layer Security (TLS) 1.3, the only version of TLS supporting PQC.
- Adoption of NIST-standardised algorithms such as ML-KEM has surged 554% over six months yet remains below 0.1% of servers.
OT, IoT, and IoMT devices face even greater barriers, often requiring firmware overhauls or hardware replacement to support PQC.
