Fifth quantum-secure encryption algorithm selected

eenewseurope.com, Mar. 12, 2025 – 

The US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has chosen a new algorithm for post-quantum encryption.

The HQC algorithm is intended to serve as a backup for ML-KEM, the main algorithm for general encryption with key encapsulation. HQC is based on different set of mathematical operations to ML-KEM, which could be important if a weakness were discovered in ML-KEM and provides redundancy.

ML-KEM algorithm is built around structured lattices, while HQC uses error-correcting codes, which have been used in information security for decades.

NIST plans to issue a draft standard incorporating the HQC algorithm in about a year, with a finalized standard expected in 2027.

Last year, NIST standardized a set of encryption algorithms that can keep data secure from a cyberattack by a future quantum computer. HQC is a second line of defence for general encryption to safeguard internet traffic and stored data.

NIST has been working for more than eight years on encryption algorithms that even a quantum computer cannot break and last year published an encryption standard based on the ML-KEM quantum-resistant algorithm called.

HQC is not intended to take the place of ML-KEM, which will remain the recommended choice for general encryption, said Dustin Moody, a mathematician who heads NIST’s Post-Quantum Cryptography project.

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