Cloudflare is betting big on the future of the internet by promising quantum-proof certificates, and it wants everyone along for the ride. The company announced Tuesday that it plans to issue certificates that use a form of cryptography widely believed to withstand attacks from quantum computers. The move puts Cloudflare among the first certificate authorities to offer such certificates, and it comes with a serious commitment: the company will acquire an already trusted root from CA GlobalSign and make the hybrid certificates free to both paying and non-paying users.
The certificates are called Merkle Tree Certificates, and they are a post-quantum equivalent of the classic TLS certificates most websites use today. Cloudflare says the hybrid certificates will work at the flip of a switch, with no increased performance overhead for millions of websites. That promise matters because quantum computers are getting closer to cracking the encryption that currently protects the web, and the industry has been scrambling to prepare.
The Quantum Threat
Quantum computers could break the encryption that keeps the internet secure. Today’s TLS certificates rely on classical cryptography, which a powerful enough quantum machine could crack. The solution being pushed by Cloudflare is a new kind of certificate that uses a form of cryptography believed to resist quantum attacks.
Cloudflare is not issuing certificates yet. The company says it will be a little while before the certificates are available. But the company is committing to the work in public, sharing milestones as they land, and telling users exactly what it is building while working with the root programs and other members of the WebPKI community.
Why This Matters
The change Cloudflare is pushing is not a small tweak. It is a fundamental rewrite of how the internet verifies identity online. The WebPKI, or web public key infrastructure, is the system that lets browsers trust websites. A quantum-proof version of that system would need to hold up against machines far more powerful than today’s computers.
The technical problem is that quantum-proof signatures are much larger than the ones used today. A quantum-proof version of a classical X.509 certificate would add roughly 40 times the amount of data required for a TLS handshake, which happens each time a browser or other application establishes a new session with a server. That extra computation and bandwidth would break the internet as we know it.
To avoid that, Cloudflare is building a hybrid system. The certificates will contain both classic and post-quantum elements, allowing websites to transition gradually without a sudden performance hit. The acquisition of the GlobalSign root adds credibility, since that root is already trusted across the web.
Here is what Cloudflare is committing to:
- Issuing hybrid certificates that combine classic and post-quantum cryptography
- Making those certificates free to both paying and non-paying users
- Acquiring an already trusted root from CA GlobalSign
- Sharing milestones publicly as the work progresses
What Comes Next
The work will take years. It requires the effort of countless engineers who design operating systems, browsers, certificate authorities, and internet infrastructure. Each piece of software along the chain has to be updated, tested, and deployed before the new certificates can be widely used.
Steve Goldsmith, who made the announcement, described the company’s approach in his statement. He said the company is committing to the work in public, sharing milestones as they land, and telling users exactly what it is building while working with the root programs and other members of the WebPKI community.
Cloudflare’s plan is ambitious. It is also necessary. The company is positioning itself as a leader in the transition, and it is doing so openly, with a timeline that is still years out.
The question is whether the rest of the industry follows. If it does, the transition could proceed smoothly. If it does not, the internet could face a prolonged period of uncertainty as quantum computers become more capable.
Either way, Cloudflare is setting the pace.
Source material: “Cloudflare plans to issue quantum-safe TLS certificates,” Ars Technica.
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