Considerations for Achieving Cryptographic Agility:
Elaine Barker, Lily Chen, David Cooper, Dustin Moody, Andrew Regenscheid, Murugiah Souppaya, Bill Newhouse, Russ Housley, Sean Turner, William Barker, Karen Kent · 2025
Cryptographic (crypto) agility refers to the capabilities needed to replace and adapt cryptographic algorithms in protocols, applications, software, hardware, firmware, and infrastructures while preserving security and ongoing operations. This white paper provides an in-depth survey of current approaches to achieving crypto agility. It discusses challenges and trade-offs and identifies approaches for providing operational mechanisms to achieve crypto agility. It also highlights critical working areas that require additional consideration.