{"id":17225,"date":"2023-08-18T14:05:19","date_gmt":"2023-08-18T18:05:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thesslstore.com\/blog\/?p=17225"},"modified":"2025-03-21T14:10:18","modified_gmt":"2025-03-21T18:10:18","slug":"google-chrome-adds-support-for-a-hybrid-post-quantum-cryptographic-algorithm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thesslstore.com\/blog\/google-chrome-adds-support-for-a-hybrid-post-quantum-cryptographic-algorithm\/","title":{"rendered":"Google Chrome Adds Support for a Hybrid Post-Quantum Cryptographic Algorithm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

If you\u2019ve been waiting to put quantum-resistant encryption<\/a> to work to protect your organization\u2019s infrastructure and data, then your wait is over. Chrome rolled out a quantum hybrid key agreement mechanism in its latest release (version 116) on Aug. 15.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

On Aug. 10, the Chromium Project announced in a blog post<\/a> by Devon O\u2019Brien its adoption of a hybrid cryptographic algorithm (X25519Kyber768) for Chrome and Google Servers. The goal is to help organizations globally secure their data against future quantum computing-based threats while ensuring security against today\u2019s cryptographic threats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In December 2022, the U.S. Congress passed legislation<\/a> encouraging federal agencies to adopt quantum-resistant cryptography. Some quantum computing (QC) algorithms are already being used by companies like Amazon Web Services (AWS)<\/a>, Cloudflare,<\/a> and IBM<\/a>. While widespread adoption of quantum computers will be great when used by well-intentioned people, it also poses a significant threat should that technology fall into the wrong hands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From an organizational security perspective, Google\u2019s move represents the first real opportunity for users to use post quantum cryptography (PQC)<\/a> for HTTPS. But what does this mean for your business and the security of your customers and users, whose data you\u2019re entrusted to protect?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s hash it out.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n<\/span>\n\n\n

Overview: Google Chrome 116 Adds Support for Its First Public Post Quantum Algorithm<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Google is testing new PQC algorithms as part of its multi-year goal of preparing for the PQC future<\/a>. Starting officially with Chrome version 116, the browser has added support for a quantum-resistant algorithm called X25519Kyber768<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Google explains, the algorithm is a \u201chybrid mechanism\u201d that \u201ccombines the output of two cryptographic algorithms to create the session key used to encrypt the bulk of the TLS connection.\u201d The two algorithms used are X25519 (an elliptic curve algorithm already in use) and Kyber-768 (a winner of the NIST PQC competition).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Google ran a test several years ago<\/a> where they rolled out another quantum computing hybrid algorithm, CECPQ1<\/a>, to a limited group of Chrome Canary (the experimental version of Chrome) users, but this is the first algorithm rolled out for general use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PQC Is Now Available for Both Clients and Servers<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019ve been talking about post-quantum encryption for a while, and this is the first algorithm to be supported by commonly used clients (browsers) and servers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alongside Google Chrome\u2019s support:<\/p>\n\n\n\n