AWS details ML-DSA signing to meet US and EU quantum-resilience mandates

Amazon Web Services has published a comprehensive guide for building software supply chains that use quantum-resistant digital signatures. The two-part series, released on the AWS Security Blog, outlines how organisations can implement Module-Lattice-Based Digital Signature Algorithm (ML-DSA) keys to protect against future cryptographic threats. This guidance addresses the growing sophistication of supply chain attacks that target trust mechanisms verifying software integrity.

How it unfolded

• AWS released Part 1 of the series, detailing the construction of an ML-DSA signing pipeline for binaries, container images, and software bills of materials.
• The first post demonstrates combining ML-DSA keys in AWS KMS, certificate hierarchies in AWS Private Certificate Authority, and trust anchors in IAM Roles Anywhere.
• Part 2 focuses on governance, showing security teams how to enforce algorithm policies using Service Control Policies and IAM to prevent non-compliant cryptographic choices.

Who is affected

Organisations shipping software to US federal agencies face strict requirements under the Commercial National Security Algorithm Suite 2.0. Published by the US National Security Agency, this suite mandates that National Security Systems support and prefer quantum-resistant signatures, with exclusive use required by 2030. Companies selling products in the European market must also comply with the EU Cyber Resilience Act. This legislation takes full effect in December 2027 and requires manufacturers to maintain verifiable software integrity throughout a product’s lifecycle.

The fix

AWS states that its services are production-ready and generally available for constructing these quantum-resistant architectures. The provider notes that as of October 2026, this series represents the first end-to-end guide from any cloud provider for post-quantum signing across the entire software supply chain. This includes establishing an ML-DSA root of trust and enforcing algorithm policy across an organisation. The guide covers three ML-DSA parameter sets: ML-DSA-44, ML-DSA-65, and ML-DSA-87, which target different NIST security categories.

What to do and how to stay safe: AWS

• Review current digital signature algorithms in your software supply chain to identify reliance on traditional methods like RSA or ECDSA.
• Assess compliance requirements for US National Security Systems or the EU Cyber Resilience Act to determine necessary migration timelines.
• Evaluate available post-quantum cryptography parameters to balance security margins against signature size and performance needs.
• Implement policy controls to enforce approved cryptographic algorithms and prevent the introduction of non-compliant signing keys.

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General security guidance from the Malware Brief newsroom. It is not confirmed advice from the organisations named in this story.

Frequently asked questions

Why are traditional signature algorithms like RSA considered risky for the future?

A sufficiently powerful quantum computer could forge these signatures, allowing attackers to inject unauthorized code or impersonate legitimate publishers.

What is the "harvest now, forge later" threat?

Attackers can record signed artifacts today and use a future cryptographically relevant quantum computer to forge those signatures on different artifacts.

Which ML-DSA parameter set offers the largest security margin?

ML-DSA-87 carries the largest security margin, making it suitable for signatures that must remain trustworthy over a long operational lifetime.