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🏛️ Architecture

Proton Mail Adds Post-Quantum Encryption for New Emails to Counter Harvest-Now-Decrypt-Later Attacks

Proton Mail has added optional post-quantum encryption for new emails sent between Proton Mail accounts, protecting against harvest-now-decrypt-later (HNDL) attacks in which adversaries collect encrypted communications today with the intention of decrypting them when sufficiently powerful quantum computers become available. The feature uses the CRYSTALS-Kyber (ML-KEM) algorithm standardised by NIST in 2024. Existing encrypted emails are not retroactively re-encrypted.

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Commentary tagged #harvest-now-decrypt-later

Opinion

Post-Quantum Cryptography: The Decision Is Not Whether to Migrate, It Is When to Start Counting

Proton Mail's post-quantum encryption launch is another data point in an accelerating migration across email, messaging, and enterprise security platforms. The industry debate has shifted from 'should we?' to 'how urgent is the harvest-now-decrypt-later threat?' For most organisations the answer is more urgent than their current roadmap reflects — because the data being generated today has a longer confidentiality requirement than the planning horizon that informs most security investment decisions.

CipherWatch Editorial

Security Intelligence Platform