¿Qué es la criptografía post-cuántica y por qué deberías migrar ya?

Post-quantum cryptography is the technology that safeguards your data—keys, HTTPS, signatures—by relying on mathematical problems that even the most powerful current computers cannot solve quickly. A large enough quantum computer could potentially break certain of these problems, which is the core of the post-quantum cryptography challenge.

You might think that since no quantum computer exists yet that can break your encryption, you can wait it out. However, there's a lurking threat known as "harvest now, decrypt later." An attacker can capture your encrypted traffic today and store it. When quantum computing capabilities become available years from now, they can decrypt that stored data.

If your data needs to remain secret in 10 years (medical histories, industrial secrets, personal data), the danger is very much present, not future. The new NIST standards finalized in 2024 contain the first post-quantum algorithms: ML-KEM (formerly CRYSTALS-Kyber) for key exchange and ML-DSA (formerly CRYSTALS-Dilithium) for digital signatures.

These are no longer academic experiments—they are standards that governments and large companies are starting to require. Hybrid encryption is the prudent approach. Post-quantum algorithms are new, and new in cryptography means less proven. Therefore, the current best practice is hybrid: combine an established classical algorithm with a post-quantum one.

This way, your protection only fails if both algorithms are broken simultaneously, preserving decades of trust in classical cryptography. To begin, identify where you use cryptography and what data needs to remain secret for years. Prioritize long-term data most exposed to the "harvest now, decrypt later" threat. Adopt hybrid encryption instead of quick replacements, and use libraries that compose verified primitives, not homegrown cryptography.

Quipu, a free library for post-quantum hybrid cryptography for data at rest, embodies this philosophy. If you want to protect your data against the quantum threat, let's talk.