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TLS certificates from CA/Browser Forum CAs are not the only server certificates in the WebPKI. eIDAS QWACs are treated as server certificates by the major browsers. We see clear progress toward post quantum cryptography (PQC) for TLS by way of the Merkle Tree Certificate (MTC) architecture. But what is the path to PQC for eIDAS? We examine this question.

SSL hasn't been a standard in use for nearly thirty years, but we still use the word. We discuss why that is, what else we might say, and the expected effect of Merkle Tree Certificates (MTC) on our technical vocabulary.

MTCs reduce PQC overhead using compact proofs, enabling fast, transparent, and scalable post-quantum certificate authentication.

Repeat guest Bas Westerbaan of Cloudflare joins us to explore the role of Merkle Tree Certificates (MTCs) in private CA scenarios with an eye toward where they will be needed and where traditional PKI will be better suited.

Dustin Moody of NIST joins us to discuss Merkle Tree Certificates (MTCs) and the NIST position on them.

Repeat guest Bas Westerbaan of Cloudflare joins us to explain the PLANTS working group in IETF, which is driving standards around post quantum cryptography (PQC) and Merkle Tree Certificates (MTC). Bas explains the path to becoming a final standard, where we are in this process, and how you can get involved.

It's reasonable to believe that Merkle Tree Certificates (MTC) and traditional RSA will co-exist on the same servers for years, if not decades, during the transition to post quantum cryptography (PQC). Bas Westerbaan of Cloudflare joins us in this episode to explore the possibility of quantum downgrade attacks and what we can do about them.

We are joined by Bas Westerbaan of Cloudflare to explain considerations and requirements for use of Merkle Tree Certificates (MTCs). This includes full adoption of TLS 1.3, offering PQC and RSA at the same time, the imperative value of automation, and running production MTC in 2027.

There are strong reasons to believe that the architecture of PQC TLS will take the form of Merkle Tree Certificates (MTC). Post quantum cryptography expert Bas Westerbaan of Cloudflare explains this new PKI architecture, how it works, and why we need it.

Google has taken a strong position supporting Merkle Tree Certificates (MTC) as the PQC-enabled future for SSL / TLS.