NordVPN, one of the best VPNs on the market, has unveiled a major update to enhance data privacy— quantum-resistant encryption, a cutting-edge technology that’ll withstand future quantum computing threats.

Quantum-resilient encryption is a new type of security designed to protect sensitive information from future computers that will be much more powerful than today’s.

To understand why this is important, it helps to know how current encryption works. Right now, when you send data, like an online payment or a private message, encryption scrambles that information using complicated math. Only someone with the correct “key” can unscramble it. Today’s computers take a long time to break these codes without the key, which makes encryption very secure.

However, quantum computers, which are still being developed, will work differently. They will be able to process information much faster and could potentially break these encryption codes quickly, even without the key. This means that once quantum computers are widely available, current encryption methods might no longer be able to keep your data safe.

Quantum-resilient encryption solves this problem. It uses new types of math and algorithms that are much harder for quantum computers to crack. These new methods ensure that even in the future, when quantum computers are powerful enough to break today’s encryption, your information will still be protected.

NordVPN has kicked off the rollout of its quantum-resistant encryption with its Linux VPN app, which is why it’s a top VPN choice for Linux. The company has also revealed plans to expand the implementation of post-quantum encryption across all platforms, with a goal of full integration by the first quarter of 2025.

The reason why it’s introducing this feature in a single app first, NordVPN can carefully track its performance before expanding it to the rest of its services. Due to the nature of these advanced encryption algorithms, there is a potential for them to affect VPN speed and performance, particularly on high-traffic websites such as social media platforms, e-commerce sites, and financial networks.

This initial rollout will help NordVPN fine-tune the technology to minimize any such impact.

“These technical challenges are the reason for the gradual implementation of post-quantum cryptography support to our applications. We want to be completely sure that we will keep the highest level of user experience in terms of connection time and speed during the transition,” NordVPN’s CTO Marijus Briedis said in a statement.