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(Post-Quantum) Cryptographic Right Answers
The race to implement post-quantum cryptography is now critical, with a 2029 deadline for completing the transition across all systems.
What: Security researcher Filippo Valsorda outlines the new "Cryptographic Right Answers" for 2026, mandating a shift to algorithms like ML-KEM-768 for key exchange and ML-DSA-44 for signatures.
Why it matters: Classical asymmetric cryptography is increasingly vulnerable to future quantum computing decryption, and the security community is aggressively moving to hybrid schemes to hedge against long-term harvest-now-decrypt-later attacks.
Takeaway: Replace legacy RSA/ECDSA/Ed25519 implementations with PQ-safe alternatives (e.g., X25519+ML-KEM-768 in TLS) immediately. If using OpenSSL, switch to memory-safe alternatives like rustls or BoringSSL where possible.
Deep dive
- Symmetric crypto remains safe; Grover's algorithm is not a practical concern.
- Use X25519+ML-KEM-768 (X-Wing) for standard hybrid key exchanges.
- Move to ML-DSA-44 for all asymmetric signature requirements.
- Avoid unauthenticated stream ciphers; use authenticated AEADs like XAES-256-GCM.
- For password storage, stick to Argon2id or scrypt, but prioritize phishing-resistant passkeys.
- Be wary of OpenSSL; transition to rustls, BoringSSL, or AWS-LC for modern TLS needs.
Decoder
- ML-KEM: A post-quantum Key Encapsulation Mechanism standard (formerly Kyber).
- ML-DSA: A post-quantum Digital Signature Algorithm standard (formerly Dilithium).
- AEAD (Authenticated Encryption with Associated Data): A form of encryption that provides both confidentiality and data integrity verification.
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