Google Chrome helps protect the web from quantum computers

Google, through its Chrome browser, aims to protect the web from the threat posed by quantum computers relative to traditional encryption methods.

Some of them believe that quantum computing is the next frontier, as it provides theoretical processing speeds that far exceed even the most powerful supercomputers today, and with this added power comes the ability to break through hitherto fortified encryption methods.

Chrome starts supporting X25519Kyber768 to create symmetric secrets in TLS as soon as version 116 of the popular browser is available soon, in an attempt to make sure encryption.

The X25519 is used for the key agreement in TLS, while the Kyber768 represents the quantum-resistant key encapsulation method. NIST (National Institute of standards and Technology) chose this encryption algorithm as one of four quantum-resistant encryption methods.

Chrome gets this support so that Google can detect any incompatibility issues early, before quantum computers become usable outside the laboratory.

He also encouraged developers to report any issues they encountered about this change via the error page.

O’brien noted that quantum-resistant encryption methods should protect against Quantum and conventional attack patterns, warning that many quantum-resistant encryption algorithms have been hacked via devices that are currently readily available to attackers.

He added that the hybrid method feature, such as X25519Kyber768, provides flexibility to deploy and test new quantum-resistant algorithms while ensuring that communications are still protected by an existing secure algorithm.

Although O’brien estimates that it may take 5 to 50 years for quantum computers with decryption capabilities to appear, he believes it is important to protect internet traffic now because data can now be collected and then decrypted once the technology arrives.

And system administrators can disable X25519Kyber768 in Chrome if their business is experiencing problems with incompatibility of network devices. However, this represents only a temporary fix, as O’brien suggested that administrators should work with the sellers of the affected products to ensure that bugs that cause incompatibilities are fixed as soon as possible.