CBOMs: Why Businesses Need Visibility Into Cryptographic Risk Before the Post-Quantum Era Arrives
Most organisations today depend on cryptography without ever really seeing it.
It sits quietly beneath the surface of modern software systems powering authentication, secure communications, API integrations, encrypted databases, digital signatures, software licensing, and cloud infrastructure. For years, businesses have worked under the premise that those cryptographic foundations were fit for purpose and would continue working indefinitely.
That assumption is starting to change.
Governments, standards bodies, and major technology providers worldwide are now actively preparing for the transition to post-quantum cryptography (PQC), with migration periods already underway and expected to continue between 2028 and 2035.
The challenge for many organisations is not simply replacing encryption algorithms in the future. It’s visibility and security as Quantum Computing technology available to hackers advances.
Most businesses do not currently know which cryptographic algorithms exist inside their software environments, which third-party dependencies rely on potentially vulnerable cryptography, or how complex future migration projects could become. A modern application may continue functioning perfectly today while quietly relying on cryptographic implementations that are already on a published deprecation path.
That creates a long-term governance, resilience, and operational risk challenge.
This is becoming increasingly relevant not only for cybersecurity teams, but also for procurement teams, enterprise buyers, insurers, lenders, and M&A due diligence teams assessing software risk, long-term supportability and viability.
For organisations dependent on third-party software, outsourced development partners, open-source ecosystems, or internally developed applications, understanding cryptographic exposure is quickly becoming part of responsible software governance.
That is why The Escrow Company has launched a new Cryptographic Bill of Materials (CBOM) service.
Introducing The Escrow Company CBOM Service
The Escrow Company Cryptographic Bill of Materials (CBOM) service is an advanced verification and code analysis offering designed to identify, catalogue, and assess all cryptographic assets used within software source code and its dependencies.
This includes cryptographic algorithms, encryption libraries, certificates, keys, protocols, authentication flows, and embedded cryptographic functions across both proprietary and third-party software environments.
Using dependency mapping and reachability analysis, the CBOM provides visibility into both direct and hidden cryptographic exposure throughout modern software systems.
Importantly, the service is not limited to software escrow arrangements.
While CBOM assessments can be performed as part of Software Escrow or SaaS Escrow verification processes, they are also increasingly relevant for internally developed applications, outsourced development projects, supplier risk assessments, M&A technical due diligence, and enterprise procurement processes where software resilience and long-term supportability are important and the world becomes more connected.
Why Cryptographic Visibility Matters
The transition towards post-quantum cryptography is not something organisations will solve overnight.
Many software environments contain years of accumulated cryptographic complexity buried within APIs, authentication workflows, open-source libraries, cloud infrastructure, vendor SDKs, and legacy dependencies. In many cases, businesses simply have no central visibility into where these cryptographic components exist or how exposed they may become over time.
Without that visibility, organisations cannot realistically estimate the complexity, cost, operational impact, or timescales associated with future migration projects.
A CBOM provides the starting point.
It allows businesses to understand what cryptographic assets exist, where they exist, how exposed they may become, and which systems or dependencies may require remediation to avoid being hacked.
In many cases, that visibility alone becomes strategically valuable for operational resilience, governance, procurement, and long-term continuity planning.
Harvest Now, Decrypt Later Risk
Security experts increasingly warn about a “Harvest Now, Decrypt Later” threat model, where encrypted data is collected today with the expectation that future quantum computing capabilities may eventually break the underlying cryptography retroactively.
For organisations storing sensitive long-term data, or depending on software systems designed to remain operational for years into the future, this creates a very practical governance and resilience challenge.
What the CBOM Assessment Includes
The Escrow Company CBOM service includes algorithm discovery, key inventory, certificate mapping, protocol analysis, dependency mapping, reachability analysis, and quantum risk classification.
The assessment analyses both proprietary software and third-party/open-source dependencies to identify cryptographic exposure throughout the software supply chain.
Reachability analysis is particularly important because it helps distinguish between cryptographic libraries that merely exist within dependencies and those that are actively reachable and executed within the production environment.
Deliverables
The CBOM assessment produces three core deliverables.
The first is a detailed technical output delivered in CycloneDX 1.6 JSON/XML format, including full file paths, line-level references, dependency relationships, and cryptographic call graph context.
The second is a human-readable Excel report designed for technical, operational, and governance review teams.
The third is an executive summary report outlining overall quantum risk exposure, key findings, cryptographic dependency areas, and recommended next steps.
Built for Modern Software Environments
The CBOM service can be applied to third-party software platforms, Software Escrow and SaaS Escrow deposits, cloud-native applications, open-source dependency ecosystems, internally developed systems, AI-enabled platforms, and applications developed by outsourced or subcontracted teams.
The service is scoped according to the number of repositories, applications, and dependency complexity involved.
Supporting Long-Term Software Resilience
A CBOM does not itself migrate applications to post-quantum cryptography.
What it provides is visibility and awareness.
For many organisations, that visibility is currently the missing piece to plan accordingly for existing estates and make informed decisions about future technology adoption.
As businesses increasingly assess supplier dependency risk, operational resilience, software governance, and long-term continuity planning, understanding cryptographic exposure is likely to become a far more important part of procurement, due diligence, and technical assurance conversations.
For software vendors, a CBOM demonstrates proactive software supply chain transparency and cryptographic governance.
For enterprise customers, it provides greater visibility into the long-term supportability of critical software systems.
For organisations involved in lending, procurement, or M&A activity, it can provide additional technical assurance around software risk exposure and future resilience planning.
As the transition towards post-quantum cryptography accelerates, organisations that understand their cryptographic landscape early will be in a significantly stronger position to adapt.
Contact us to request a quote for your CBOM today.
