Mapping Your Cryptography: Why Discovery is Key to Quantum Readiness this?

Introduction

In today’s digital payments ecosystem, cryptography is the invisible shield that secures transactions, APIs, mobile apps, and sensitive customer data. Every swipe at a POS terminal, every UPI transfer, and every payment request over an API depends on encryption and digital signatures working correctly in the background. Yet most payment providers have little to no visibility into where cryptographic algorithms and keys are being used across their systems. This blind spot is dangerous in a post-quantum future, where classical algorithms like RSA, ECC, and even AES could be weakened. To prepare for this change, the first and most crucial step is cryptographic discovery building a clear inventory of where cryptography lives inside your environment.

How to Perform Cryptographic Discovery

Cryptographic discovery is about more than just scanning certificates or checking compliance checklists. It is a systematic process of uncovering all the places where encryption and digital signatures are embedded in your payment systems. This includes

• Digital certificates
• Cryptographic Keys
• Crypto – Libraries
• Cipher suites etc.,

The goal is to create a Cryptographic Inventory Document a single source of truth that shows what algorithms are in use, how strong they are, and where the highest risks lie. Without this map, organizations are essentially flying blind when it comes to quantum risk planning.

Scenario: A Real-Life Payment Provider Example

A digital-first payment service provider in Southeast Asia decided to conduct a cryptographic discovery exercise after internal discussions on quantum risks. The team expected to find a straightforward environment — modern APIs, updated TLS certificates, and strong AES encryption for stored data. Instead, the discovery revealed several surprises:

• APIs were still using RSA-2048 certificates, making them vulnerable to future quantum attacks.
• Long-term transaction archives were encrypted with AES-128, significantly reducing security under Grover’s algorithm.
• Some older POS terminals in smaller cities were still running 3DES, a cipher already considered weak by today’s standards.

For the provider, this was a wake-up call. On paper, the systems were compliant with PCI DSS and regional regulations, but hidden cryptographic weaknesses existed that could become critical in a quantum future. The discovery exercise gave them their first complete cryptographic map, allowing risks to be classified and prioritized, and ultimately forming the basis of their PQC migration roadmap.

How SISA’s QRA and Cryptographic Discovery Tool Will Help

At SISA, we recognize that quantum security starts with identifying where cryptography is used across your environment. That’s why our current approach combines both tool-based discovery and expert assessment.

• Our Cryptographic Discovery Tool performs file-level and code-level scans to identify algorithms and keys embedded in applications and databases.
• For network and firewall-level discovery, we leverage trusted open-source scanning tools to ensure wider coverage.
• These insights feed directly into our Quantum Risk Assessment (QRA), where our experts validate the findings and highlight which assets carry the highest exposure to quantum threats.

Conclusion

Cryptography underpins every digital payment transaction from securing APIs to protecting stored transaction data. But without visibility, organizations remain unaware of hidden dependencies on algorithms that quantum computers will eventually break. Cryptographic discovery is the first and most important step toward quantum readiness.

By combining our discovery tool with expert-led assessments, SISA helps organizations uncover where cryptography exists, identify risks, and build a clear inventory that supports smarter planning. This visibility is what enables the journey toward a secure, quantum-safe future