Apple recently announced that the iMessage encryption update will introduce "post-quantum" protections, which has been called the "most significant encryption security upgrade" in the history of the messaging app.
In a blog post published on Wednesday, Apple announced PQ3, a new encryption protocol designed to dramatically improve the security of messengers. Since its launch in 2011, iMessage has been offering end-to-end encryption, which is a great way to keep chats private, which isn't available in every messaging app. However, Apple's encryption is not as secure as we think. With the latest update, Apple claims that your messages will now be more secure than ever, so secure that Apple has had to invent a whole new level of security – what it calls the "first" to distinguish the unparalleled protection you enjoy from your iPhone conversations.
The blog reads:
With a defense against cryptography and highly sophisticated quantum attacks, PQ3 is the first messaging protocol to achieve what we call the most secure messaging protocol – providing protocol protection beyond all other messaging applications. As far as we know, PQ3 has the strongest security attributes of any large-scale messaging protocol in the world.
Apple is so confident in this unmatched protection assessment that it provides a chart showing how iMessage now outperforms other messaging apps, including the popular privacy app Signal: overall, this is good news. That being said, it's a bit funny to find Apple's new "post-quantum" protections, since quantum computers don't really exist yet. It is true that large companies like Google are currently scrambling to develop them, but so far no fully functional machine has been shown to the public. Still, scientists seem to believe that quantum computers will eventually be available. When they appear, experts believe they will revolutionize the way we live, bringing breakthroughs from science and medicine to mathematics.
Notably, quantum computers are likely to be able to crack current public-key cryptography algorithms, unlocking much of the internet currently secured by public-key systems. There has been speculation that quantum-related attacks have already occurred – so-called "collect now, decrypt later" attacks, in which a sophisticated hacker could absorb large amounts of encrypted data in the hope of later decrypting it using a quantum machine.
Apple's new protocol is designed to defend against such attacks. It is powered by a "post-quantum-secure" algorithm called Kyber, which was developed by researchers associated with the National Institute of Technology and Standards (NIST), which has been at the forefront of cryptographic protocol development for years. It is important to note that not all post-quantum algorithms of NIST have been found to be safe.