Microsoft is preparing Windows 11 for a new major threat to cybersecurity: quantum computers.
In a blog post, Microsoft announced that Windows 11, starting with Canary build 27852, will support post-quantum cryptography (PQC). This technology is designed to protect data from the enormous computing power of quantum computers, which can crack traditional encryption techniques.
Microsoft has expanded its cryptography library, SymCrypt, to support this. It now supports the PQC algorithms ML-KEM and ML-DSA via the Cryptography API: Next Generation. SymCrypt is used in certificates and encrypted messaging functions.
ML-KEM is designed to protect keys against the so-called collect now, decrypt later scenario. In this scenario, attackers now store…