Apple is already protecting iMessage against future quantum attacks – Apple

Apple's security team claims to have achieved great success in its work, “enhancing messaging with cutting-edge technology.” With the upcoming release of iOS 17.4, iPadOS 17.4, macOS 14.4, and watchOS 17.4, the company is implementing a new encryption protocol called PQ3 in iMessage, which is said to provide stronger encryption and defenses against sophisticated quantum cyberattacks.

These attacks don't pose a widespread threat yet, but Apple is preparing for a future where malicious actors will attempt to break current encryption standards and security layers surrounding iMessage with the help of powerful computers. However, these scenarios may begin to become a reality by the end of the decade Experts agree The technology industry needs to start taking preventive measures against such threats early.

“PQ3 is the first messaging protocol to reach what we call Level 3 security, providing protection beyond that applied to all other widely used messaging applications.” states in sharing it Apple security team. If it wasn't already clear, Apple has come up with its own system for rating the security level of messaging apps, and iMessage now holds the top spot all by itself, thanks to these new improvements introduced by PQ3.

From the company's point of view, these improvements are enough to give Apple's service an advantage over Signal, which recently introduced its own advanced security protocols. (For comparison's sake, the current version of iMessage ranks in the top tier, alongside apps like WhatsApp, Viber, Line, and the older version of Signal.)

Apple says it not only replaced the existing algorithm with a new one, but built a new encryption protocol for iMessage from scratch in order to offer end-to-end, first-class encryption. In fact, the company says hackers today can store any encrypted data they extract, hoping to break their defenses years later, once quantum computers become realistically available.

All the technical details surrounding the PQ3 are available in Apple's blog post, and it's a very interesting example of how the company is focused on protecting user data. As proven in recent months, Apple Feel free to exclude third parties -even when they are acting in good faith- if it sees that there is an attempt to violate in any way the limits set by the popular messaging service that comes with iPhones.