Entrokey Labs Shines a Light on Cryptographic Entropy
The Overlooked Layer of Encryption
Eric Dresdale is co-founder and president of Entrokey Labs. Remington Griffin is the company’s director of client implementation success. Griffin took an unusual path into security. He studied classical guitar performance and computer music, then built a company around DSP algorithms.
At Qualys ROCon 2026, the pair join Alan Shimel to explain why cryptographic entropy deserves attention. Entrokey is building a category it calls entropy as infrastructure.
Entropy has underpinned cryptography since the early internet. For decades, it was judged by humans using statistical analysis. Dresdale says AI is now a new observer, and that changes how entropy must be measured.
Quantum and AI Raise the Stakes
Dresdale says quantum timelines keep moving closer. Estimates once pointed to 2045. Now many point to 2030 or even 2029. AI is speeding things up.
Teams need a cryptographic bill of materials. Dresdale argues they also need an entropy bill of materials. Where are the entropy sources, and what data do they protect? He calls quantum a sledgehammer and AI a scalpel. Combined, they create a threat few are ready for.
His advice is to treat quantum as a governance problem. Assign an owner, set a budget and build crypto agility. Large enterprises may need more than two years to transition. Stronger entropy hardens existing systems and buys time.
Observability With Qualys
Qualys ETM already shows which TLS sessions and network traffic are quantum vulnerable. Griffin says Entrokey adds another layer. It measures entropy in sessions and keys, along with factors such as unicity distance.
Much of that work builds on Shannon entropy. The new piece is adversarial AI that tests cryptographic entropy before an attacker can. As Dresdale puts it, you can’t defend what you can’t observe. Harvest now, decrypt later threats are already real.
Dresdale adds that quantum is being built as a weapon first. Nation-states are pouring billions into the race. That, he says, is why organizations cannot afford to wait.
Transcript
Hey everyone, welcome back here to Techstrong TV. We are live still at Rock on, wrapping up day two coverage. And we got a three-person.
We didn't have enough of those high barstools, so we're standing. But I kind of like it better like this. Let me introduce you to two people I just met here, a lot of fun.
They bring chaos wherever they are, like entropy, but you're going to hear more about that in a second. First, I'm going to introduce you to my immediate left, Remington. Remington- Yeah ...
introduce yourself. Yeah. So, I'm Remington Griffin.
I'm the director of customer implementation success at Entropy Labs. And yeah, we like to bring a lot of chaos. So what's your background?
How did you get wind up in Entropy Labs? That's a very long story, actually. So I did my undergrad masters in classical guitar performance, and computer music.
Great. Went through doing DSP algorithms, built a company around that. And then a lot of consulting and, through a couple of good friends, found myself with Entropy.
Really? Yeah. Good for you, man.
Eric. Yes. Hello.
Eric Dresner. I'm co-founder and president at Entropy Labs. Entropy is an early-stage cybersecurity company that is creating and building the category entropy as infrastructure.
Entropy has been the foundation of our cryptography since the beginning of the internet, and it's always been good enough and not a problem because we had the human observer- Right ... statistical analysis. But now we have a new observer, and that new observer is AI.
Yep. And so the way that we have to look and measure entropy has changed, and that is a lot of what we are discussing and doing with Qualys, which is helping to create observability and telemetry around this foundational piece that everyone has ignored to date. So it begs the question, this is unrehearsed, of course, so we're just going to throw it hard to you.
Yeah. What about quantum? Yes.
Yeah. We were just talking about that on the panel. Good.
Quantum, as I said on the panel stage, is real. So anyone who is a naysayer or denier, I hate to break it to you, it is happening, and it's happening fast. It started in 2045, then 2040, 2035, now we're at 2030, with some saying 2029.
IBM says 2029. Google does too. Some are saying even 2028.
Yeah. Right? And with AI, it's accelerating.
Accelerating. Exactly. And so quantum is real.
Quantum does require you to understand your cryptographic bill of materials, what you have, what's protecting what, what should be a priority, what shouldn't be a priority. Obviously, we get behind that. But we also believe, again, the overlooked layer that you also need to get that observability on is your entropy.
So, like an entropy bill of materials. Mm-hmm. Where are your entropy sources?
What are they feeding? What systems? What data are they protecting?
You can't have one without the other because quantum is like a sledgehammer, and that's going to break all of our encryption. Yes, it is. AI, we like to refer to as more like a scalpel, right?
And when you bring them together, which is what is going to happen, that brings a whole other threat level that nobody's prepared for. So quantum is coming. We tell people, "Get started, figure out who's owning it, figure out your budget, it's a governance problem.
Make sure you have crypto agility," because what we're already starting to see, AI cryptanalysis is breaking post-quantum candidates, non-production AES. It's going to continue. And so if one algorithm no longer is able to work, how are you able to fall over to a more secure next in line algorithm?
Anything you would like to add, your thoughts on it? Yeah. Quantum is basically here, right?
Yeah. AI, we already know is here, and we're seeing ways to break it, all these encryption algorithms that are currently out there. So adding that level of entropy into there is a huge factor at preventing your encryption from being broken.
It's not foolproof, but it's better. It is, and it is exactly that. It is hardening.
What we do know is with every percentage increase to your entropy, it actually increases the overall strength of your cryptographic stack. Yep. And so it's about hardening, it's about buying time, because unfortunately, when we're talking about these large, mammoth enterprises, two years isn't enough time for them to transition what they need.
Unfortunately. No, true. And so what can you have in your arsenal today that will continue to buy you time to make that transition happen?
And that's the criticality of entropy and why we're so focused on it, because that alone will actually buy you time and harden your existing systems while you're in the process of transitioning everything. I love it. I want to bring that back though, right?
Because you mentioned two years. Time is of the essence. But really that's a risk question.
Look, if you don't think you have too much to lose and you're making an intelligent, educated decision, it's your decision, right? Yeah. We don't tell people.
We try to advise them. That's what this whole Rock center is about, what Rock On's about, right? It's about everybody...
We could give you a risk score. Yep. Right?
But everyone has their own unique appetite for risk, right? Some of us like to bet long shots and some of us play favorites. Yep.
Let's bring that home here to Qualys Rock On. How is what you're doing helping feed that risk score? How is it helping feed the Rock so that people can hopefully make educated decisions?
Yeah. Talk to the man on the ground. Yeah.
So Qualys has their new ETM platform with a true risk score, and they're showing some data here on what is quantum vulnerable for TLS sessions, network traffic, so forth. And part of what we do is also analyzing this network traffic and your 40S cryptographic strength. And we're able to provide an extra level on top to bring in really a full rounded picture on exactly how vulnerable is this.
What is level of entropy in your session, your keys, in the cryptographic strength? Unicity distance. All these different factors.
A lot of them are based off of Shannon's algorithms. Mm-hmm. A huge player in this field from...
You know Shannon? Very old. And for those that don't know and they're watching this, Shannon entropy is the way in which they measured entropy, and still do, right?
Yeah. And it's a very statistical analysis approach. Right?
And we use that with our scoring capability as well. The gap that we're filling in that hasn't been solved is, think of it as an adversarial AI. Mm-hmm.
And being able to be the first to evaluate your cryptographic strength before an adversary actually does. Yep. Right?
And everything around quantum or AI, right, we stand by the statement, you can't defend what you can't observe. Absolutely. And that's what we are looking to do ourselves, but also in partnership with Qualys, which is push that out there.
You can't defend what you can't observe. And going back to the quantum thing, just because quantum's not here doesn't mean you're not living the threat right now. You've heard hack now, decrypt later.
Hack now, forge later. These are real, and if your data's sitting within that five-year time span, or now what we believe less, it's in trouble. Yeah.
" Absolutely. Hey, I got to do a little housekeeping here. People who want to find out more about Entropy, where do they go?
com. Yep. Well, it's on the bottom third.
You'll see it. But spell it for them anyways. All right.
Temporarily taxing me. No, who's taxing me? com.
There you go. You can check it out. Or on in- not Instagram, LinkedIn, where we have a presence as well, and we're constantly putting out educational materials through that because entropy is a misunderstood or not understood at all topic.
It very much is. Look, all of quantum is... We were talking about Boca D-Waves moving across the street from us, right?
In Delray. Yeah. Boca Raton Innovation Building- Yeah, amazing ...
and Palm Beach State College. Yeah. And so that's huge.
And we saw this week, who was it? IonQ- Mm-hmm ... 3 billion- That's right ...
a security company. Yep. I actually did a report on Techstrong on it.
Look, the quantum computing industry generated about a half a trillion dollars last year, I think it was. Wow. Yeah.
Well, what's really interesting, right, and where a lot of people fall into that maybe non-believer camp, right, I think people need to understand there's two ways that quantum goes. There is the thing that's going to make our lives a lot better. Yep.
Healthcare and GPS and all these- Weather ... weather, right? But make no mistake, like many new technologies, it's designed as a weapon first.
And that is why we are seeing nation states pouring billions and billions and billions into this. So when we talk about quantum computing and people saying, "Oh, we're 10 to 20 years away," you know what? For some of those applications, we probably are.
But that's not what the funding is really about right now. It is about who can have that quantum supremacy and put the- So people are still eyeing for that, then ... That is exactly right.
I see. All of these critical technologies, and we are in absolute race with the adversaries to make sure- Mm-hmm ... that we stay ahead.
Excellent. Guys, first of all, thank you both for coming on. Yeah.
Thank you for having us. Yeah. Thank you.
Good luck in your partnership with Qualys. I look forward to hearing more about it in the months to come. All right.
Thank you so much. Thanks for being on Techstrong TV. Don't make this your last time on.
All right. Thank you. Appreciate it.
Remington, Eric, here on Techstrong TV. Thank you. Thank you.
Take a break. We might have one more special guest for you today. Stay tuned.
You're watching Techstrong TV.
