NIST selects HQC as Fifth Algorithm for PQC Encryption

NIST has chosen a new algorithm for post-quantum encryption called HQC, which will serve as a backup for ML-KEM, the main algorithm for general encryption.
HQC is based on different math than ML-KEM, which could be important if a weakness were discovered in ML-KEM. NIST plans to issue a draft standard incorporating the HQC algorithm in about a year, with a finalized standard expected in 2027.

Last year, NIST standardized a set of encryption algorithms that can keep data secure from a cyberattack by a future quantum computer. Now, NIST has selected a backup algorithm that can provide a second line of defense for the task of general encryption, which safeguards internet traffic and stored data alike.

Encryption protects sensitive electronic information, including internet traffic and medical and financial records, as well as corporate and national security secrets. But a sufficiently powerful quantum computer, if one is ever built, would be able to break that defense. NIST has been working for more than eight years on encryption algorithms that even a quantum computer cannot break.

Last year, NIST published an encryption standard based on a quantum-resistant algorithm called ML-KEM. The new algorithm, called HQC, will serve as a backup defense in case quantum computers are someday able to crack ML-KEM. Both these algorithms are designed to protect stored information as well as data that travels across public networks.

… more: NIST Selects HQC as Fifth Algorithm for Post-Quantum Encryption | NIST

Origin of text: https://www.nist.gov/news-events/news/2025/03/nist-selects-hqc-fifth-algorithm-post-quantum-encryption
Picture: Foto von Markus Spiske auf Unsplash