Identity-First Attacks and Post-Quantum Risk Spur Demand for Keysight Testbeds

Industry wake-up as identity-first attacks and post-quantum risk mount

Enterprise security is shifting toward identity-first models as legacy perimeter defenses fail to stop intrusions, and regulatory and procurement guidance is driving a near-term need for cryptographic transition planning. Gartner names post-quantum cryptography (PQC) migration and AI agent identity governance among the six forces reshaping security, while U.S. CISA tells federal agencies to acquire only quantum-resistant cloud and endpoint products. That combination is creating fresh demand for tools and services that can validate both identity governance and cryptographic agility before organisations deploy new protections.

Quantum-proofing testbeds gain urgency

Test-and-measurement vendors such as Keysight Technologies are well placed to become central to enterprise and vendor efforts to prove PQC deployments and identity controls in real-world environments. As organisations prepare to replace traditional algorithms with quantum-resistant alternatives and to embed cryptographic agility across cloud and edge stacks, they require reproducible lab environments to assess interoperability, performance, latency and failure modes. Keysight’s network emulation, protocol testing and security-lab capabilities address those needs by enabling hardware-in-the-loop and software-defined test scenarios for TLS, VPNs, IoT endpoints and high-throughput services.

Practical validation extends beyond algorithm correctness to system-level behavior, and vendors face tight timelines driven by data-residency mandates and long-lived sensitive data. Gartner forecasts $80 billion in sovereign-cloud IaaS spending by 2026 as regions impose residency rules, creating complex multi-cloud and hybrid deployments that must be tested for PQC compatibility. Keysight and similar suppliers can help customers demonstrate compliance with procurement requirements, quantify performance trade-offs of candidate PQC algorithms, and stress-test identity and key-management flows that AI agents and human users rely on.

QSE webinar aims to move planning toward action

Quantum Secure Encryption Corp. (QSE) is hosting a free educational webinar on Feb. 17, 2026 titled "The Post-Quantum Shift: What Changes? What Fails? What to Do Now?" The roughly 45-minute session targets IT leaders, security and compliance teams and decision-makers, and focuses on moving organisations from theoretical awareness to practical planning to mitigate “harvest now, decrypt later” threats.

Broader vendor landscape and identity-first reality

Gartner cites companies building layered internal data-governance stacks including Quantum Secure Encryption, SailPoint, Commvault, Netscout Systems and Confluent, while the market records about 75% of intrusions now involving compromised credentials. That convergence of identity-first attacks, PQC mandates and sovereign-cloud spending positions testing and validation firms to play a pivotal role in enterprise security transitions.