Quantum computers are the future, and a near-term future at that. They will be exponentially more powerful than the computers we have today and will allow us to make huge potential leaps forward in fields such as curing diseases and artificial intelligence. They can also be used to easily crack today’s passwords, hack into secure networks, and quickly harvest mass amounts of data.
Due to these risks, VPN providers such as NordVPN are trying to stay ahead of the game with post-quantum encryption. NordVPN, one of the best VPNs on the market, and a company continually on the bleeding-edge of privacy and security features, has just released its first-ever app with post-quantum encryption support.
It’s currently only available for Linux and complies with NIST standards for post-quantum encryption. The company stated that it hopes to roll out post-quantum algorithms on all NordVPN applications no later than the first quarter of 2025.
In a blog post following the launch, NordVPN’s CTO Marijus Briedis said, “Trends show that cybercriminals are intensifying what are known as ‘harvest now, decrypt later’ attacks. Simply put, they are trying to accumulate huge quantities of encrypted data and decrypt them once quantum technology is developed. Thus, the VPN industry must enter a new phase of development to defend against future quantum computing threats.”
Despite quantum computing being a ways off, it is still a reality that will likely come to fruition at some point. Being prepared for such a revolutionary technology before it arrives is an important step. At least this way, when we connect to a VPN in the future we can still enjoy some semblance of privacy and security from our robot overlords.
Author: Sam Singleton, Assistant Editor, PCWorld
Sam Singleton is PCWorld's VPN beat reporter and jack of all trades. When he's not on the hunt for the best computer deals he's covering VPNs, productivity software, laptops, and a wide gamut of consumer-grade hardware and software.