Security News > 2022 > April > OpenSSH goes Post-Quantum, switches to qubit-busting crypto by default
As you probaby know, so-called quantum computers work in a rather mysterious way compared to conventional computers, inasmuch as they can perform certain sorts of calculation so that they effectively "Compute" all possible answers simultaneously in what's known in the jargon as a quantum superposition.
So if quantum computers ever do become both reliable and powerful enough to work their superpositional algorithmic magic on 2000-digit prime factors, then breaking into messages we currently consider uncrackable in practice may become possible in theory.
Beecause of this, the United States cryptographic standards body NIST has been running a Post Quantum Cryptography competition for several years already, so that if quantum decryption ever does become a reality, we'll be ready.
The newly-published OpenSSH 9, released last Friday, has already picked its own winner from the NIST finalists, and will now use a public-key encryption system called NTRU Prime by default.
The NTRU algorithm is believed to resist attacks enabled by future quantum computers and is paired with the X25519 ECDH key exchange as a backstop against any weaknesses in NTRU Prime that may be discovered in the future.
The new OpneSSH version supports all the cryptographic algorithms that it did before, so your existing installations won't break, and you don't have to use NTRU Prime even in new OpenSSH installations if you don't want to.