On Mon, Mar 23, 2026 at 8:03 AM John Mattsson <[email protected]>
wrote:

> I don’t think that is a good answer.
> - I think a reply from TLS should include the technical analysis of their
> use of the TLS protocol. That is why they are writing TLS WG. The only
> reason of not saying that psk_ke for external PSKs  is a very bad choice
> would be to save the face of RFC 8446.
>

I don't think that this is correct.

The primary reason that psk_ke is unwise for external keys is that we
expect those keys
to have a long lifespan. If those keys are changed regularly, then this can
be
a reasonable choice. In the limit, if you were to establish a new key via
some secure method for each TLS connection, then you would have similar
key lifetime properties to many existing TLS connections.


- I think the Pentagon paper I linked to is a better reference that NSA and
> GCHQ. Pentagon is a user, not a SIGINT. Also, the contact for the Pentagon
> paper is Brita Hale, which most of us know.
> - If we refer to QIRC is should be to point out that quantum communication
> is pure research.
>

I do not think this is correct. There are a number of QKD deployments which
appear to be in production, including:

https://www.idquantique.com/quantum-safe-security/quantum-key-distribution/#:~:text=ID%20Quantique%20and%20Singtel%20are,Pozna%C5%84%20Supercomputing%20and%20Networking%20Center
https://quantumxc.com/blogs-podcasts/quantum-communications-real-world-applications/#:~:text=Quantum%20Xchange%20is%20currently%20leading,distances%20that%20is%20provably%20secure
.

While I think this is a bad idea, that doesn't mean it's pure research.

-Ekr


> John
>
> *From: *Scott Fluhrer (sfluhrer) <[email protected]>
> *Date: *Monday, 23 March 2026 at 15:55
> *To: *Eric Rescorla <[email protected]>, Salz, Rich <rsalz=
> [email protected]>
> *Cc: *Andrei Popov <[email protected]>,
> [email protected] <[email protected]>
> *Subject: *[TLS] Re: [EXTERNAL] Re: LS on the work item related to QKD
> and TLS integration framework in SG13
>
> Minor correction: it's the QIRG (Quantum Internet Research Group), not the
> QCRG.
>
> ------------------------------
> *From:* Eric Rescorla <[email protected]>
> *Sent:* Monday, March 23, 2026 9:50 AM
> *To:* Salz, Rich <[email protected]>
> *Cc:* Andrei Popov <[email protected]>;
> [email protected] <[email protected]>
> *Subject:* [TLS] Re: [EXTERNAL] Re: LS on the work item related to QKD
> and TLS integration framework in SG13
>
> If we must say something, I think it should be more along the lines
> of this statement.
>
> Ekr
>
>
> On Mon, Mar 23, 2026 at 5:32 AM Salz, Rich <rsalz=
> [email protected]> wrote:
>
>
>
>    - I agree with this. It makes sense to respond, in simple technical
>    terms. Not with judgement, not with assumption of ill intent by any
>    parties. Just plain technical advice.
>
>
> Totally agree!
>
> It can be as simple as
> The TLS working group feels that QKD is still too premature to be a secure
> solution to any problem. We note that other organizations also feel this
> way [refs to UKNCSC, NSA if needed]. We are unlikely to do any work in this
> area now. We suggest that you look at the QCRG, in our related organization
> the IRTF, which has active QKD discussions.
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>
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