vendor · quantum risk
Hybrid-washing | Quantum-Safe Claims & Education
Verdict
Hybrid-washing is marketing hybrid without sound combination or without enabling it in production. True hybrids need both classical and PQC contributions to the session secret—and real deployment evidence.
Overview
Not every “hybrid” string in a whitepaper is a secure combiner. Not every roadmap is a release.
Buyers should ask for modes, versions, and packet captures from pilots.
Cryptographic profile
- Signatures: Claimed hybrid designs
- Hash: N/A
- Public-key exposure: False hybrid claims leave HNDL exposure intact.
Claim scrutiny (buyer checklist)
Marketing / stated claims
- Military hybrid PQC
- Always-on hybrid
Open questions
- How often is hybrid actually negotiated in customer deployments?
Educational analysis only. Verify primary sources, specs, and audits yourself before any financial or procurement decision.
What breaks
- Classical-only fallback always selected
- PQC unused except in marketing screenshots
- Broken combiners
Mitigations
- Request configuration proof from staging
- Independent crypto review for custom combiners
- Prefer standards-track hybrids
FAQ
Related?
/glossary/hybrid-kem and hybrid-tls
Evidence levels?
/is-quantum-proof/evidence-levels-quantum-claims
Key concepts (technical dictionary)
Terms used on this page — open a definition: