If the Founders Aren’t Interesting, I Never Get to the Technology - www.inc.com

The technical groundwork for a quantum-resistant internet is further along than the policy needed to build it. The IETF finalized the standard for encoding ML-DSA signatures within X.509 certificates in RFC 9881 in October 2025, yet as of this year the CA/Browser Forum has not approved their use in publicly trusted TLS certificates. This creates a clear timeline; organizations can begin building post-quantum certificate authorities now, but widespread adoption for secure browsing remains a future goal. Encryption, facing the immediate threat of “store now, decrypt later” attacks, prioritized key exchange solutions before signature updates. This discrepancy highlights a growing gap between the readiness of post-quantum cryptographic algorithms and the policy frameworks needed for their widespread deployment, a situation that could delay the transition to a quantum-resistant internet. NIST’s finalized standards, FIPS 204 for ML-DSA and FIPS 205 for SLH-DSA, published on August 13, 2024, define distinct approaches to quantum-resistant cryptography, each with its own performance characteristics and ideal use cases.

Here’s your NYT Strands hint for today, plus the spangram and all of today’s Strands answers for puzzle No. 959 on Sunday, Oct. 18, 2026. Today’s Strands theme was tricky. It helps to be a runner. Read on for all the answers.

A supply-chain attack involving ConnectWise’s cloud services has exposed Microsoft 365 customers to unauthorized application access, with researchers reporting successful sign-ins across 173 partner and customer tenants. The incident centres on credentials associated with ConnectWise Cloud Backup, formerly SkyKick, and raises concerns about attackers exploiting permissions already entrusted to business software. ConnectWise has confirmed unauthorized access to application identities within its Cloud Backup environment. In an October 17 update on its service-status page, the company said it was shutting off application access, interrupting customer backups while investigation and remediation continued.