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by Retr0id 422 days ago
If we assume cryptographically-relevant quantum computers will one day exist, you don't just need to worry about certs being cracked before they expire, but also the ECDH-established session keys being cracked. These keys are ephemeral, but if you store the ciphertexts long-term, you can crack them at any point in the future (aka https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvest_now,_decrypt_later).
1 comments

Perfect forward secrecy means harvest now, decrypt later does not apply to signature algorithms when ephemeral keys are used and TLSv1.3 mandates ephemeral keys. If the ephemeral keys are cracked, that would be the fault of the key agreement algorithm, not the signature algorithm.

> If we assume cryptographically-relevant quantum computers will one day exist

One day could be 10,000 years in the future, so what meaning is there to such an assumption? You need to assume much more than that such machines will be constructed one day to suggest that there is a need for action. The industry is switching to hybrid key agreement algorithms out of an abundance of caution that it is not just one day that such a machine will be made, but one day in our lifetimes. It is not certain that will actually happen, but if it does, having adopted hybrid key exchange algorithms years in advance is enough. There is no need to switch signature algorithms from ECC until the creation of such a machine is imminent. Thus it is fine to proceed with EdDSA adoption in PKI.

The Eccfrog512ck2 curve can be used for both signatures and key agreement.