Mullvad introduces quantum-resistant VPN tunnels for enhanced future-proof security

Mullvad, the company known for its privacy-centric Mullvad VPN and Mullvad Browser, has introduced quantum-resistant tunnels across all major operating systems, including Linux, Windows, macOS, Android, and now iOS. This new feature can be enabled on iOS by navigating to Settings, VPN settings, and toggling the Quantum-resistant tunnel option in the Mullvad VPN app.

Upon establishing a VPN connection, users will see a “QUANTUM SECURE CONNECTION” status in green text on the main view of the app, confirming the secure connection. While WireGuard encryption has no known vulnerabilities, the method used to establish a shared secret for encryption can be cracked by a sufficiently powerful quantum computer. Although such quantum computers have not yet been demonstrated, implementing post-quantum secure tunnels now provides protection against future threats.

The process involves establishing a WireGuard tunnel to share a secret in a way that a quantum computer cannot decipher, even if it had access to the network traffic. The connection is then reset, and a new WireGuard tunnel is initiated using the new shared secret with WireGuard’s pre-shared key option. The post-quantum secure algorithms employed are Classic McEliece and Kyber.