AI-Driven Post-Quantum Cybersecurity and Cryptographic Modernization (SBIR)

AI-Driven Post-Quantum Cybersecurity and Cryptographic Modernization (SBIR) is sponsored by U.S. Air Force SBIR. This opportunity supports mission-aligned projects and measurable outcomes.

Direct to Phase II SBIR - Cybersecurity of Operational Technologies | Forward Edge Ai, Inc. Help Center Direct to Phase II SBIR - Cybersecurity of Operational Technologies Quantum Resistant Cybersecurity for ICS-SCADA, IoT, Military IoT, and Medical IoT See also: The problems with Operational Technologies, SCADA, PLCs, and IoT Technologies Phase III Sole Contracting Methodology Tradewinds Market Place Awardable Commercial Solutions Offering (CSO) Sole Source Buying Guide The convergence of Operational Technology (OT) and Information Technology (IT) has transformed critical infrastructure and defense systems—but it has also dramatically expanded the attack surface.

U.S. military installations, utilities, and industrial control environments are under escalating threat from advanced nation-state actors, ransomware affiliates, and quantum-enabled cyber operations. Iranian-affiliated groups, for instance, have repeatedly targeted U.S. water systems, energy grids, and industrial networks, exploiting unpatched PLCs, default passwords, and remotely accessible HMIs.

In parallel, the arrival of Cryptanalytically Relevant Quantum Computers (CRQCs) within the decade threatens to obsolete RSA and ECC encryption schemes that secure most ICS/SCADA environments today. A global “Harvest Now, Decrypt Later” (HNDL) campaign is already underway, aimed at collecting encrypted data for future exploitation.

The U.S. Air Force (USAF) and Department of the Navy (DON) have both issued strategic guidance calling for Zero Trust architecture, ICS/SCADA hardening, and quantum-resistant communications as immediate cybersecurity priorities. Forward Edge-AI’s Isidore Quantum solution is directly aligned with these mandates.

According to CISA, NSA, and FBI joint alerts, Iranian-aligned actors continue to conduct targeted cyber campaigns against U.S. critical infrastructure, including: Exploit of Israeli-made PLCs and HMIs across U.S. water, energy, food, and healthcare sectors. Ransomware + exfiltration + defacement campaigns that target outdated OT with weak security postures.

Use of engineering and diagnostic tools to disrupt performance and vendor-maintained systems. A Fortinet-commissioned Forrester study further reports: 56% of ICS operators experienced a breach in the last year. 45% do not use basic role-based access controls.

100% have vulnerable IoT devices on shared networks with SCADA environments. Department of the Air Force Requirements The U.S. Air Force’s June 2025 RFI and industry calls for solutions to: Provide Zero Trust enforcement in hybrid OT/IT environments . Secure ICS/IoT components in contested or expeditionary settings .

Integrate with existing infrastructure while reducing manual configuration. Deliver AI-driven anomaly detection , secure remote access, and real-time encrypted telemetry across weapon systems and mission-critical OT assets. Department of the Navy Requirements The June 2025 DON CTO Memo emphasizes SCADA/ICS cybersecurity as a Level 2 technology under its “Cyberspace Operations / Zero Trust” priority area.

Specifically, DON seeks: ICS/SCADA protection and secure remote access . Quantum-ready encryption to support NC3 modernization and maritime control systems. Alignment with CNSA 2.

0 cryptographic standards and DoD Zero Trust principles. The Isidore Quantum Solution Forward Edge-AI, Inc. was awarded a Phase II SBIR to develop Isidore Quantum , a quantum-resistant cybersecurity platform purpose-built to secure ICS/SCADA environments.

Developed in close collaboration with the National Security Agency (NSA) and leveraging a patented architecture, Isidore Quantum eliminates traditional PKI and enables zero-trust enforcement at the physical layer.

Isidore Quantum is engineered to address the full spectrum of weaknesses that plague SCADA, MODBUS, PLC, OT, and IoT environments by integrating security-by-design principles into every layer of industrial control and monitoring.

Unlike legacy systems such as Rockwell’s offerings, which often bolt on security after deployment, Isidore Quantum incorporates end-to-end encryption, authenticated command execution, and role-based access control directly into its core protocols. This ensures that data in transit—whether over MODBUS TCP, proprietary PLC connections, or IoT device links—is fully protected against interception, spoofing, and replay attacks.

Built-in secure boot, signed firmware updates, and automatic certificate management eliminate the vulnerabilities inherent in outdated hardware lifecycles, while network segmentation and zero-trust architecture prevent lateral movement, even if a single endpoint is compromised.

In operational environments where downtime often delays patching and leaves systems exposed, Isidore Quantum leverages hot-patch technology, real-time anomaly detection, and machine learning-driven intrusion prevention to secure assets without disrupting production.

This allows critical updates to be deployed across SCADA controllers, PLCs, and IoT devices without interrupting ongoing processes—a capability that outperforms traditional solutions like Rockwell’s, which typically require planned outages and manual interventions. Additionally, Isidore Quantum integrates OT-aware security analytics with SIEM platforms, enabling operators to correlate SCADA/PLC events with IT security data in real time.

Automated device discovery and secure provisioning prevent “shadow OT” and rogue IoT devices from joining the network, ensuring complete asset visibility and control. Addressing the human factor, Isidore Quantum introduces context-aware access controls, integrated operator training modules, and guided policy enforcement that reduce configuration errors and security oversights.

Its intuitive, unified management interface consolidates SCADA, PLC, and IoT security into a single pane of glass, streamlining operations while enforcing compliance with NIST, ISA/IEC 62443, and industry-specific safety standards.

Where legacy vendors like Rockwell may require separate systems and licensing for OT security, network management, and analytics, Isidore Quantum delivers a fully converged, cloud-optional platform that’s both faster to deploy and more cost-efficient to maintain.

By eliminating the security gaps and operational inefficiencies of existing solutions, Isidore Quantum not only mitigates today’s most pressing industrial cyber risks but also future-proofs infrastructure against evolving threats.

Now at Technology Readiness Level 8 (TRL-8), Isidore Quantum has been validated across diverse operational environments, including classified SCADA testbeds, naval infrastructure, and forward-deployed Air Force systems. Field deployment is underway across mission-critical platforms, offering real-time encrypted telemetry, self-healing key rotation, and AI-driven anomaly detection. Isidore Quantum® Gen 2.

1 for Operational Technologies/SCADA Designed for rugged use and rapid integration, Isidore ensures resilience against both current cyber threats and future quantum-enabled adversaries—safeguarding national infrastructure at the tactical edge: Quantum-Resistant Cryptography: Compliant with NSA CNSA-2. 0, ensuring long-term security against quantum threats.

Autonomous Key and Channel Management: Supports periodic rekeying, key recovery, and zeroization without manual intervention, reducing the risk of key compromise. Protocol, Device, and Network Agnostic: Seamlessly integrates into existing infrastructure without requiring modifications. Multi-Topology Support: Enables point-to-point, mesh, hub-and-spoke, and other network architectures with independent link keying, ensuring resilience.

Zero-Trust Security Model: Prevents unauthorized access and lateral movement through continuous authentication and verification. AI-Powered Threat Detection: Machine learning and a highly performant rules engine automatically detect, respond to, and adapt against cyber threats. Obfuscation and Anonymization: Black traffic randomization ensures secure communication by masking underlying traffic structures.

Compact and Efficient: Weighing only 270g (9. 7oz) and consuming 8W of power, Isidore Quantum® is significantly more portable and power-efficient compared to legacy cryptographic devices. AI-powered threat detection trained on over 8 trillion Microsoft security signals.

Drop-in hardware form factor , compatible with Ethernet, SATCOM, Wi-Fi, cellular, and MIL-STD-1553 links. Validated in SCADA labs at NSA Ft. Meade , deployed across land, sea, air, and space platforms.

This Direct-to-Phase II SBIR effort: Delivered a field-deployable prototype integrated into live ICS/SCADA networks at a USAF or DON installation. Demonstrated real-time, post-quantum encrypted OT telemetry with autonomous key rotation and breach containment. Provided a secure operator dashboard , anomaly detection engine, and secure software/firmware update pipeline.

Generated quantitative resilience metrics against simulated HNDL, ransomware, and nation-state intrusion campaigns. As CISA warns of imminent SCADA/ICS targeting by Iranian and other state-aligned adversaries, and NSA mandates migration to CNSA 2. 0 before 2027, the urgency to secure critical infrastructure has never been greater.

Isidore Quantum represents a low-cost, exportable, mission-ready solution that meets USAF and DON priorities for OT cybersecurity, Zero Trust enforcement, and post-quantum resilience. Q-Day is not a myth—it’s a countdown. The evolving cyber threat landscape, coupled with the rise of quantum computing, presents unprecedented security challenges for critical infrastructure and operational technologies (OT).

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) estimates that approximately 20 billion devices will require an upgrade to post-quantum cryptography (PQC) by 2027. Forward Edge-AI’s Isidore Quantum® is at the forefront of this transition, offering a Commercial National Security Algorithm Suite (CNSA-2. 0) compliant cryptographic solution that ensures resilient and quantum-resistant data security.

See Quantum Risk White Paper here. Unlike traditional cryptographic solutions, Isidore Quantum® provides zero-trust, autonomous, and scalable security, specifically designed for data-in-transit protection across diverse operational environments.

Configuring the Isidore Quantum device as a one-way data diode provides a robust cybersecurity solution for critical infrastructure sectors such as water utilities, energy systems, and defense installations.

In this mode, Isidore Quantum enforces unidirectional data flow, allowing real-time sensor and process data to stream out from ICS networks to monitoring platforms, while completely preventing any external commands or cyber threats from reaching sensitive controllers like PLCs.

This secure one-way transfer acts like a digital air-gap – it physically blocks 100% of inbound traffic into operational networks but still enables remote analytics and situational awareness. The result is a significantly hardened network where critical processes can be observed without exposing control equipment to attack, aligning with industry best practices and regulatory mandates for infrastructure protection.

U.S. cybersecurity authorities have long recommended such data diode architectures to safeguard utilities and critical operations, and certain regulations even require them (for example, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission mandates one-way gateways for nuclear plant systems).

By deploying Isidore Quantum as a unidirectional gateway, operators in the water, energy, and defense sectors achieve secure sensor data exfiltration and isolation of their ICS/SCADA environments, meeting stringent cyber-regulatory standards while greatly enhancing resilience against external intrusions.

Securing Data-in-Transit for Critical Infrastructures Isidore Quantum® is purpose-built for securing critical infrastructures such as: Defense and Intelligence Networks Smart Grids and Energy Infrastructure Aerospace and UAV Communications Secure Mobile and Tactical Communications Financial and Healthcare Systems Industrial Control Systems (ICS) & SCADA Networks Isidore Quantum® supports multiple deployment scenarios: Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) to Ground (Point-to-Point) Reaper to Ground Communications Signals Intelligence (SIGINT) Platforms (Mesh) Satellite Communications (Starlink) Multiple Encrypted Phones Over Cellular (Hub and Spoke) Comparison: Isidore Quantum® vs. Traditional Solutions Legacy Cryptographic Devices Vulnerable to quantum attacks CNSA-2.

0 compliant (Quantum-resistant) Traffic & Geolocation Security Obfuscated and anonymized black traffic Protocol and network agnostic Requires certificates & PKI No PKI/KMI or certificates required 50 Mbps (scalable to 100 Gbps) Credit card-sized, 0.

2 lbs Requires specialized training Plug-and-play, minimal training required $1,600 ($500 estimated once Full Rate of Production is achieved) A Future-Proof Cybersecurity Solution Isidore Quantum® is a next-generation cybersecurity solution, licensed from the NSA and developed by Forward Edge-AI to address the most pressing challenges of post-quantum cryptography.

Its scalable, AI-enhanced, zero-trust framework ensures that organizations can proactively harden their infrastructure against emerging threats while maintaining operational continuity.

By deploying Isidore Quantum®, governments, enterprises, and critical infrastructure operators can protect their communications, prevent unauthorized access, and ensure long-term cybersecurity resilience in an era where quantum computing poses a serious threat. Award a Phase III Sole Source Contract A Federal Agency may enter into a Phase III SBIR/STTR agreement at any time with a Phase I OR II Awardee.

A subcontract to a Federally funded prime contract may be a Phase III award.

Follow our 8 step process: Step 1 Requirements Document: Prepare a Statement of Work (SOW), Statement of Objectives (SOO), or Performance Work Statement (PWS), or use our automated tool to generate a document Step 2 Market Research: Use this page as your market research, or view a list of other eligible projects , then request a ROM from Forward Edge-AI Step 3 Funding: Performed by the government Step 4 Sole Source Justification: A Memorandum for the Record is required in lieu of a J&A or SSJ Step 5 Provide Requirements Package to Contracting Officer: Performed by the government Step 6 Solicitation: Performed by the government Step 7 Pre-Negotiation Memorandum: Use GSA CALC as a benchmark to determine fair and reasonableness of our ROM Step 8: Contract Award: Performed by the government Language for Step 4 ( Determination and Finding ): Artificial Intelligence (Anomaly Detector), Counter Adversarial AI, Encryption, cybersecurity, ICS/SCADA, IoT, IIoT, Military IoT, physics-based models, quantum resistant, Zero Trust Operational Technologies, Industry 4.

0, Utilities (power, water, energy), Expeditionary Environments List of Phase III contracts awarded so far Restrictions on use of Forward Edge-AI Information on Bid and Proposals Awarding Agency: US Air Force Contract Number: FA864923P0006 Contractor Name: Forward Edge-AI, Inc. Contractor Address: 10108 Carter Canyon, San Antonio, TX 78255 Expiration of SBIR Data: 21 December 2042 Protection Period: 20 years from award of contract on 21 December 2022 The Government's rights to use, modify, reproduce, release, perform, display, or disclose technical data or computer software marked with this legend are restricted during the period shown as provided in paragraph (b)(5) of the Rights In Other Than Commercial Technical Data and Computer Software–Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program clause contained in the above identified contract.

After the expiration date shown above, the Government has perpetual government purpose rights as provided in paragraph (b)(5) of that clause. Any reproduction of technical data, computer software, or portions thereof marked with this legend must also reproduce the markings. Did this answer your question?

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