NIST’s Nine: The PQC Signature Race Moves to Round Three

This report analyzes NIST's post-quantum cryptography process and the strategic need for algorithmic diversity: it distinguishes key encapsulation mechanisms (KEMs) from digital signatures, recounts past cryptanalytic failures (e.g., Rainbow, SIKE), summarizes the nine signature candidates advancing to NIST's third round across multiple mathematical families, and recommends that enterprises adopt finalized FIPS algorithms now while architecting systems for future signature agility.