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Glossary

Quantum glossary

Post-quantum cryptography

Also: pqc, quantum-safe, ml-kem, kyber, dilithium

Classical cryptography designed to resist attack by quantum computers, running on ordinary hardware.

NIST standardised ML-KEM (from Kyber), ML-DSA (from Dilithium) and SLH-DSA (from SPHINCS+) in 2024. Unlike QKD it needs no special hardware, which is why it is the main migration path. Data encrypted today can be harvested and decrypted later, so the migration is urgent before the machines exist.

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Related terms

  • Shor's algorithm — A quantum algorithm that factors integers and computes discrete logarithms in polynomial time.
  • Quantum key distribution — Protocols such as BB84 that let two parties agree a secret key, with any eavesdropping revealed by the errors it causes.