Confidentiality vs Authentication: How Far the Web Has Actually Moved

Post-quantum cryptography is not a future ambition. It is already embedded into the web’s core confidentiality protocols. In this episode of Shielded: The Last Line of Cyber Defense, host Jo Lintzen speaks with Sofia Celi, Senior Cryptography and Security Researcher at Brave, co-author of the MAYO signature scheme, and co-chair of an IETF working group driving global PQC standards. Sofia explains the two-speed reality of PQ migration: confidentiality is already deployed at scale through TLS 1.3 and hybrid KEMs, while authentication, signatures, and zero-knowledge-based identity systems remain in deep research. She shares how standards bodies are recalibrating after TLS 1.3, why multivariate signatures such as MAYO could reshape authentication, why European eID timelines miss critical cryptographic maturity gaps, and the first two steps any security team must take within the next year.