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schneierBruce SchneierSCHNEIER:47BE4D1872FBC897E0FE0582DC8D2A9F
HistoryFeb 26, 2024 - 12:04 p.m.

Apple Announces Post-Quantum Encryption Algorithms for iMessage

2024-02-2612:04:34
Bruce Schneier
www.schneier.com
5
apple
post-quantum encryption
imessage
pq3
kyber protocol
nist selected
cryptography
apple algorithmic agility
quantum computers

6.9 Medium

AI Score

Confidence

Low

Apple announced PQ3, its post-quantum encryption standard based on the Kyber secure key-encapsulation protocol, one of the post-quantum algorithms selected by NIST in 2022.

There's a lot of detail in the Apple blog post, and more in Douglas Stabila's security analysis.

I am of two minds about this. On the one hand, it's probably premature to switch to any particular post-quantum algorithms. The mathematics of cryptanalysis for these lattice and other systems is still rapidly evolving, and we're likely to break more of them–and learn a lot in the process–over the coming few years. But if you're going to make the switch, this is an excellent choice. And Apple's ability to do this so efficiently speaks well about its algorithmic agility, which is probably more important than its particular cryptographic design. And it is probably about the right time to worry about, and defend against, attackers who are storing encrypted messages in hopes of breaking them later on future quantum computers.

6.9 Medium

AI Score

Confidence

Low