The DoD specification was set long ago, when rotating magnetic media hard drives ruled the IT world. To erase these drives, overwriting all data with zeros or random patterns – whatever the standard offered – was enough. But the world changed and entered the age of digitalization, and with it came new hard drives like SSDs (solid state drives).

The quantum threat is looming, but we are not exactly sure when it will hit, how serious it will be, or how exactly we should be preparing for it. There is still ongoing development of Quantum-Safe Cryptography, so wouldn’t it be better to wait until Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) algorithms are more developed? Let’s find out.