Professor Tanja Lange and team contribute to new global standard for post-quantum cryptography
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Professor Tanja Lange and team contribute to new global standard for post-quantum cryptography
June 26, 2026
For the wider digital world, this development is another step towards protecting communications against the arrival of practical quantum computing.
Photo: stock photo
Professor Tanja Lange and several members of her team have played a central role in developing a new international standard for post-quantum cryptography. The standard includes Classic McEliece, a cryptographic system to which Lange and her collaborators contributed and that is designed to protect digital communication against future quantum computers.
For decades, digital security has relied on encryption methods that are considered safe against today's computers. Quantum computers could change that. Although large-scale quantum computers are still under development, researchers expect them to be able to solve certain mathematical problems much faster than conventional computers. Some of the encryption systems widely used today would no longer offer sufficient protection.
That is why researchers around the world have been working on post-quantum cryptography: cryptographic systems designed to remain secure even when quantum computers become a reality. One of those systems, Classic McEliece, has now reached an important milestone. Because of its long security track record, it has become one of the best-known candidates for post-quantum encryption. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has now adopted it as part of an international standard for post-quantum cryptography.
Tanja Lange
major TU/e contribution
Although Classic McEliece was developed by an international team, researchers with strong ties to TU/e made major contributions. Full professor Tanja Lange was heavily involved in both the design and the security analysis of the system, helping to shape how it withstands increasingly sophisticated attack methods.
She worked closely with former TU/e PhD students Christiane Peters and Tung Chou, who focused on software implementation and performance improvements. Cryptographer Daniel J. Bernstein, who was affiliated with TU/e during much of the development process, was also a key member of the team.
Understanding potential attack strategies
In addition to technical development, Lange was involved in writing formal specifications and served as co-editor in the ISO standardization process. A key part of this work involved not only improving the system itself but also studying how it could be attacked. In cryptography, understanding potential attack strategies is essential for assessing real-world security. The team analyzed different attack approaches, estimated their computational cost, and evaluated whether new techniques could pose a threat to the system.
This combination of design, implementation, and attack analysis helped build confidence in the system’s long-term security and played an important role in its path towards standardization.
Photo: stock photo
Nearly fifty years in the making
Classic McEliece is based on an encryption system developed by Robert McEliece in 1978. While many cryptographic proposals have been broken over the years, the mathematical foundation behind McEliece has remained solid. The system is based on error-correcting codes rather than the mathematical principles used in encryption systems such as RSA and Diffie-Hellman.
One of the advantages of Classic McEliece is the compact size of its encrypted messages, known as ciphertexts. This makes it practical to deploy. Data transmitted across the internet is divided into packets. Large files often require multiple packets, which can slow communication and increase overhead.
Classic McEliece produces ciphertexts that fit comfortably within a single packet, leaving room for additional security information when needed. This makes the system particularly attractive for applications such as virtual private networks (VPNs) and other secure communication technologies, where efficiency is essential.
The system is already being used in several applications, and its compact ciphertexts make it especially well suited for environments where bandwidth and performance matter.
From research to international standard
The adoption of Classic McEliece by the International Organization for Standardization marks an important step towards wider deployment of post-quantum cryptography.
Many governments, companies and public organisations require internationally recognised standards before they can implement new cryptographic technologies. Standardisation therefore removes a key barrier to adoption and increases confidence that different systems can work together securely.
For the wider digital world, this development is another step towards protecting communications against the arrival of...