Short answer
Cloudflare has announced plans to become a public certificate authority, issuing the digital certificates websites need for encrypted connections. The new authority will support both traditional certificates and ones designed for the post-quantum era. To be recognised on older devices too, the company aims to acquire a trusted root certificate from GlobalSign.
Highlights
- Cloudflare plans to become a public certificate authority and to support post-quantum Merkle Tree Certificates (MTCs).
- Production MTC issuance is scheduled to begin in the first quarter of 2027.
- The acquisition of root key material from GlobalSign is expected to close within the next two months.
2 min readEditor-in-chief: Uğur Deniz İlhan
Cloudflare has announced its intent to become a public certificate authority (CA). According to the press release as published by The Quantum Insider, the new authority will issue the digital certificates websites need to encrypt traffic and prove their identity.
What will the new authority do?
A certificate authority verifies a site's identity and issues certificates that browsers can trust. Alongside classical certificates, Cloudflare will issue Merkle Tree Certificates (MTCs), designed for the post-quantum era. Following a successful experiment with Chrome, the company says MTCs are built with transparency built in.
Will older devices recognise the certificates?
To be recognised on older phones and operating systems, Cloudflare has agreed to acquire the key material of a trusted root certificate from GlobalSign; the deal is expected to close within the next two months. The company has also applied to the Chrome, Apple, Microsoft and Mozilla root programmes. Classical certificates will be issued once that process is complete and accepted, while production MTCs are scheduled to begin in the first quarter of 2027.
What should website owners in Turkey do?
No action is needed today: the service has not launched and root programme acceptance is pending. If certificate management is your responsibility, though, it is reasonable to ask your current provider about its post-quantum roadmap and to follow Cloudflare's early-access announcements. The release expects quantum computers able to break current encryption to arrive within years; that is the company's own outlook.
Frequently asked
- What is a Merkle Tree Certificate?
- The release presents MTCs as a certificate type with built-in transparency that paves the way for post-quantum security. The aim is to make the transition possible without sacrificing web speed.
Sources
- The Quantum Insider (Cloudflare basın bülteni) ·
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