NIST’s first post-quantum standards

This post announces NIST's publication of the first three post-quantum cryptographic standards (ML-KEM, ML-DSA, SLH-DSA) designed to resist quantum computer attacks. It discusses the threat posed by quantum computers to current cryptography, the NIST standardization process, and Cloudflare's involvement in evaluating and deploying preliminary versions of these algorithms. The post highlights the urgency of migrating to post-quantum key agreement and the challenges associated with migrating to post-quantum signatures. Cloudflare's current deployment of a hybrid post-quantum key agreement protects a significant percentage of human traffic and plans are in place to upgrade to the final ML-KEM standard. The post also notes that widespread adoption of post-quantum signatures is expected to take longer.