On March 26, 2025, the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) announced the publication of Technical Specification TS 104 015, titled “Efficient Quantum-Safe Hybrid Key Exchanges with Hidden Access Policies.” The specification defined a scheme for Key Encapsulation Mechanisms with Access Control (KEMAC), called Covercrypt, that ensures both pre-quantum and post-quantum security through hybridization.
According to ETSI, the Covercrypt scheme locks and anonymizes session keys based on user attributes, permitting only authorized users who meet the encapsulation policy requirements to retrieve keys. Matt Campagna, Chair of the ETSI QSC working group, called it “fundamental to the quantum future.”
TS 104 015 was developed through the TC CYBER QSC working group with contributions from French cryptography firm Cosmian. Chloe Hebant, Rapporteur of the working group and cryptographer at Cosmian, served as rapporteur for the specification. ETSI stated that the standard offers a high-performance hybrid encryption system that can be integrated into existing commercial security products.