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Secure communication handshakes form the foundation of trust in distributed systems. As cryptographic ecosystems transition toward post-quantum readiness, handshake mechanisms must satisfy a broader set of requirements than confidentiality and authentication alone. They must be interoperable, cryptographically agile, auditable, and capable of operating across heterogeneous trust environments. This Technical Note defines the QSIG Handshake Reference Architecture.

This Technical Note defines the lifecycle, versioning, and retraction framework governing cryptographic and security-related artifacts published by the QIST Foundation. The purpose of this document is to establish clear, auditable rules for how artifacts are created, reviewed, revised, superseded, and—when necessary—retracted. By formalizing these processes, QIST aims to preserve scientific integrity, ensure long-term citability, and reduce systemic risk arising from ambiguous or unmanaged publication practices in high-assurance domains.