News Apple launching quantum computer protection for iMessage with iOS 17.4, here’s what that means

[The Helper]

Security is a never-ending mission and today Apple has announced its latest innovation for protecting iMessage. Already live in the iOS 17.4 beta is an innovative post-quantum cryptographic protocol called PQ3. The novel upgrade gives iMessage “the strongest security properties of any at-scale messaging protocol in the world.” Here’s why iMessage quantum security is important now and into the future, how PQ3 works, and more.

iMessage has a history of strong security. From the launch in 2011 with end-to-end encryption to the adoption of Elliptic Curve cryptography in 2019 to BlastDoor with iOS 14, and recent improvements like Contact Key Verification at the end of 2023, Apple is constantly upgrading iMessage security.

Now Apple has unveiled what it calls the “most significant” cryptographic security upgrade for iMessage with a complete rebuild of the system’s protocol. Apple detailed the new advancement on its Security Research blog this morning.

Today we are announcing the most significant cryptographic security upgrade in iMessage history with the introduction of PQ3, a groundbreaking post-quantum cryptographic protocol that advances the state of the art of end-to-end secure messaging. With compromise-resilient encryption and extensive defenses against even highly sophisticated quantum attacks, PQ3 is the first messaging protocol to reach what we call Level 3 security — providing protocol protections that surpass those in all other widely deployed messaging apps. To our knowledge, PQ3 has the strongest security properties of any at-scale messaging protocol in the world.

iMessage quantum security arrives with iOS 17.4 - 9to5Mac

iMessage quantum security is launching for iPhone with iOS 17.4, the biggest security upgrade ever for the platform.

9to5mac.com