The intent is to use new mathematical approaches that are hard for both conventional and quantum computers to solve. Of course, there are downsides: The keys are larger and need more processing time, compute capacity, and memory. For now, post-quantum cryptography is saved for valuable information where there’s economic incentive for bad actors to use quantum computing to decrypt your data.
Part of the transition to post-quantum cryptography is the standardization of new algorithms and making them available in common cryptographic libraries, especially those used by both OS and applications. Microsoft has been working with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to standardize these new algorithms and has begun adding them to its base SymCrypt library.
Adding post-quantum cryptography to Windows
Used across Microsoft’s platforms, SymCrypt is a key component of tools such as Windows’ Cryptographic Primitives Library and also offers support on Linux for use in Azure. It now supports the ML-KEM, ML-DSA, and SLH-DSA post-quantum cryptographic algorithms. The field is still evolving, and although you can use these algorithms now, better ones may come along in the future, so be ready to change if necessary.
