Building your cryptographic inventory: A customer strategy for cryptographic posture management

**Executive summary:** This Microsoft Security guidance explains the importance of creating a comprehensive cryptographic inventory as the foundation for post-quantum readiness and general cryptographic hygiene, describes a continuous Cryptographic Posture Management (CPM) lifecycle (discover, normalize, assess risk, prioritize, remediate, continuous monitoring), maps coverage across code, network, runtime, and storage domains, recommends Microsoft tools and partner solutions to collect signals and normalize inventories, and provides a practical checklist to get started.