Protocol Action: 'Post-Quantum Cryptography in OpenPGP' to Proposed Standard (draft-ietf-openpgp-pqc-16.txt)

The IESG <iesg-secretary@ietf.org> Tue, 06 January 2026 19:36 UTC

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From: The IESG <iesg-secretary@ietf.org>
To: IETF-Announce <ietf-announce@ietf.org>
Subject: Protocol Action: 'Post-Quantum Cryptography in OpenPGP' to Proposed Standard (draft-ietf-openpgp-pqc-16.txt)
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Message-ID: <176772816180.3617026.7626131464831941381@dt-datatracker-5656579b89-p6k4r>
Date: Tue, 06 Jan 2026 11:36:01 -0800
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CC: The IESG <iesg@ietf.org>, draft-ietf-openpgp-pqc@ietf.org, openpgp-chairs@ietf.org, openpgp@ietf.org, paul.wouters@aiven.io, rfc-editor@rfc-editor.org
Archived-At: <https://mailarchive.ietf.org/arch/msg/ietf-announce/Hyyf6NPzW1j_GkrTmrwEgC1BUFM>

The IESG has approved the following document:
- 'Post-Quantum Cryptography in OpenPGP'
(draft-ietf-openpgp-pqc-16.txt) as Proposed Standard

This document is the product of the Open Specification for Pretty Good
Privacy Working Group.

The IESG contact persons are Paul Wouters and Deb Cooley.

A URL of this Internet-Draft is:
https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/draft-ietf-openpgp-pqc/

Technical Summary

This document defines a post-quantum public-key algorithm extension
for the OpenPGP protocol. Given the generally assumed threat of a
cryptographically relevant quantum computer, this extension provides
a basis for long-term secure OpenPGP signatures and ciphertexts.
Specifically, it defines composite public-key encryption based on ML-
KEM (formerly CRYSTALS-Kyber), composite public-key signatures based
on ML-DSA (formerly CRYSTALS-Dilithium), both in combination with
elliptic curve cryptography, and SLH-DSA (formerly SPHINCS+) as a
standalone public key signature scheme.

Working Group Summary

There was a series of challenging decisions to make, where there were clear
disagreements within the working group. For example, the choices of algorithm
were contentious, as different constituencies wanted different algorithms. The
working group gathered consensus around a relatively small subset of algorithms
that everyone agreed was worth supporting, though. Additional documents may
progress later, which would add different algorithm choices to the array
available in OpenPGP.

Document Quality

There are multiple implementations that interoperate with each other, and can
handle the test vectors in draft-ietf-openpgp-pqc-12. They are tracked as
pre-release versions of software, as none of the participating implementors
want to produce persistent artifacts until the draft is formalized as an RFC.

These implementations and their interoperability can be seen in the OpenPGP
Interoperability Test Suite:

https://sequoia-pgp.gitlab.io/openpgp-interoperability-test-suite/results.html?q=pqc&impls=33354

Personnel

The Document Shepherd for this document is Daniel Kahn Gillmor. The
Responsible Area Director is Paul Wouters.

Protocol Action: 'Post-Quantum Cryptography in Op… The IESG