Mullvad announced this week that it has enabled quantum-resistant tunnels in the VPN’s Windows client. The company plans to enable the feature on its mobile clients for Android and iOS in the future as well.
This comes just a few months after Mullvad added protections against AI traffic analysis to its VPN.
What are quantum-resistant tunnels? Put simply, it is hardening the connection to the VPN with stronger protections against attacks.
Mullvad notes that the previously used system has no weaknesses, but that more powerful computer systems could attack it successfully. The company mentions quantum computers specifically.
The updated security protects the connections against potential future attacks that could utilize computer systems that are more powerful than those available today.
Here is the paragraph that describes the improvement in technical terms:
The feature prevents such a future attack using post-quantum secure key encapsulation mechanisms for exchanging a pre-shared key for WireGuard. The algorithms currently used are Classic McEliece and ML-KEM.
With this new app release we switched to the NIST standard ML-KEM from the earlier Kyber standard, but this is essentially a minor revision of that standard.
Windows users can check Settings > VPN settings > WireGuard settings > Quantum-resistant tunnel to configure the feature. It should be enabled on Windows by default, provided that the latest VPN client update has been installed already.
Mullvad VPN should highlight the use of the feature with a quantum-resistance feature indicator.
Closing Words
Mullvad continues to improve the security of its VPN. The latest addition should future-proof connections of customers against potential quantum-computer-based attacks.
Now it is your turn. Do you use a VPN? If so, which and why that one? Feel free to leave a comment down below.