Compliance Isn’t Security
Don’t Get Lulled into a False Sense of Security by Your OpenSSL Upgrade
Post-quantum cryptography (PQC) is rapidly moving from academic discussion to production reality. Standards are emerging. Libraries are adding hybrid algorithms. Vendors are announcing “quantum-ready” features.
If you recently upgraded OpenSSL and noticed support for hybrid key exchanges like mlkem768_x25519, that’s good news. But it’s not the finish line. In fact, believing that a single cryptographic library upgrade makes your infrastructure “quantum-secure” is one of the most dangerous misconceptions emerging in 2026.
Because PQC is not a library problem - it’s an architecture problem.
The Core Misconception
Modern OpenSSL releases now support hybrid classical + post-quantum key exchange algorithms. This means TLS sessions can negotiate quantum-resistant key material.
That is important progress. However, it assumes correct configuration everywhere and only protects the outermost transport layer. It does not address:
Application-layer security
Identity binding
End-to-end secrecy
You’ve added stronger bricks to your toolbox, but you have not rebuilt the house.
Why Transport-Layer PQC Alone Is Not Enough
Even with PQC-capable TLS:
Traffic may still be decrypted inside infrastructure components
Proxies, brokers, or gateways may terminate TLS, becoming ideal exfiltration points for any traffic flowing through them
Internal services may re-encrypt with classical cryptographic algorithms or cipher-suites
Applications may only handle plaintext, thus requiring preemptive decryption just to simply function
From an attacker’s perspective, any place where plaintext or classical encryption appears becomes the weak link. Quantum-safe at the edge does not equal quantum-safe end-to-end.
PQC Requires Defense in Depth
True post-quantum security must assume that any single layer can fail or be compromised. That means designing systems where:
No single component has full visibility
No single key exposes meaningful data
Compromise does not cascade
This is the design philosophy behind SealedTunnel, the heart of the Terniion platform.
SealedTunnel: Post-Quantum Security by Architecture, Not Checkbox
SealedTunnel is built around a simple principle: Security must be process-to-process, layered, and cryptographically agile, not:
Device-to-device
Network-to-network
Encrypted “somewhere along the path”
Process-to-Process Validation
Before any tunnel exists, both endpoint agents validate:
The identity of the requesting process
The integrity of the process
Authorization to establish a tunnel
This eliminates an entire class of attacks where malware piggybacks on legitimate network access. If the process is not trusted, no tunnel exists.
Layer 1 — Quantum-Safe Transport to the Fabric
Each agent establishes an outbound-only connection to the Xiid brokerage fabric using:
TLS 1.3
Perfect Forward Secrecy
Mutual X.509 certificate authentication
Hybrid PQC key exchange (mlkem768_x25519)
This ensures:
No inbound firewall holes
No static exposure
No classical-only key material
At this stage, communication is already quantum-resistant. But we don’t stop here.
Layer 2 — End-to-End Post-Quantum Key Exchange
Once both agents are connected, a second key exchange occurs directly between the two endpoints not through the fabric. This exchange:
Uses hybrid PQC (mlkem768_x25519)
Establishes an end-to-end ephemeral secret
Cuts the fabric completely out of the trust boundary
The fabric becomes a blind packet forwarder. It cannot:
Decrypt
Inspect
Influence key material
This is true end-to-end encryption.
Layer 3 — Rolling Ephemeral Encryption
From the end-to-end ephemeral secret, SealedTunnel continuously derives rolling ephemeral keys. Rotation can be based on time or the amount of transferred data. These keys are then used for AES-256-GCM (AEAD), which provides:
Confidentiality
Integrity
Authentication
Proven resistance even under quantum attack models
This renders “Harvest Now, Decrypt Later” (HNDL) attacks effectively useless.
Built for Cryptographic Agility
Rather than being tied to one algorithm, SealedTunnel architecture allows:
Algorithms to be swapped
Parameters to evolve
Hybrid modes to be adjusted
Future PQC standards to be introduced without redesign
The Final Takeaway
Post-quantum security is not achieved by a checkbox, a version number, or a single library upgrade. It is achieved by layered, end-to-end, process-bound architecture that is secure by design.
If your PQC story begins and ends with “we upgraded OpenSSL,” you haven’t solved the problem. You’ve only started thinking about it. SealedTunnel technology exists because starting to think is not enough.