Cloudflare, an application, internet and website security solutions provider, is providing free post-quantum cryptography (PQC) to help its customers secure their websites, according to a prepared statement.
The company made the announcement ahead of the 2023 Summit for Democracy, which takes place March 29 and 30.
PQC is designed to protect against cyberattacks originating from quantum computers. Cybercriminals can use these computers to launch attacks faster and more efficiently than ever before.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is evaluating PQC algorithms and standardization. Cloudflare and other cybersecurity companies are also developing cryptographic systems to protect organizations against cyberattacks from both quantum and classical computers.
What Post-Quantum Security Means for Cloudflare's Customers
Post-quantum security "should be the new baseline for the internet," Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince said. As such, Cloudflare is promising to equip businesses and nonprofit organizations "with the most advanced cryptography available and to never charge for it," Prince noted.
Cloudflare is upgrading its internal systems in 2023 to ensure that they are PQC-secure and looking for ways to use "PQC and zero trust as allies together," the company indicated. It also has been focused on releases to the Cloudflare Interoperable, Reusable Cryptographic Library (CIRCL), which could be used for experimental deployment of cryptographic algorithms.
Meanwhile, Cloudflare technologies may be used to power over 99% of websites that already utilize PQC for their connections that support standards approved by NIST, the company said. In addition, Cloudflare has provided PQC to protect over 1 billion HTTP requests since 2019.
Post-Quantum Security Market Is Expanding
Cloudflare's PQC news comes after Arrow Electronics in January 2023 announced a software distribution agreement with QuSecure, which specializes in PQC. With the agreement, Arrow is providing QuSecure's QuProtect post-quantum security software to more than 220,000 commercial and federal channel partners, the companies said.
PQC is becoming increasingly important to global organizations. Thus, cybersecurity companies could look to develop PQC products and services to help MSSPs and their customers protect against evolving cyber threats.
