ML-KEM Mythbusting
13 days ago
- #IETF Standards
- #Post-Quantum Cryptography
- #ML-KEM
- ML-KEM was not invented by the NSA but by European cryptographers.
- Differences between Kyber and ML-KEM are minor, mostly editorial changes by NIST.
- There is no backdoor in ML-KEM; the parameter space lacks the entropy needed for a NOBUS backdoor.
- Fault attacks on ML-KEM are possible but not unique to it; any cryptographic algorithm can be vulnerable to hardware failures.
- Decryption failure attacks on ML-KEM are theoretically possible but practically negligible due to extremely low probability.
- Implementation flaws like Kyberslash are issues with specific implementations, not the ML-KEM algorithm itself.
- Hybrid cryptographic schemes combine classical and post-quantum cryptography for enhanced security, supported by IETF standards.
- The NSA prefers non-hybrid ML-KEM1024 for their systems, which may result in less efficient but not necessarily less secure handshakes.
- The IETF does not actively discourage hybrids; the lack of a 'Recommended' flag for some hybrid algorithms is more bureaucratic than substantive.