How our post-quantum security measures work

Steganography is a method for hiding secret data within another digital medium, such as an image or file. To do this, the medium is modified, for example, by changing the least significant bits of pixel values to embed hidden identifiers for fingerprinting or watermarking.

The goal is to make the hidden data imperceptible, but modern AI and computer vision tools can often detect these subtle modifications. Moreover, the amount of data that can be hidden is limited, and users must work with the modified version of the image to recover the secret.

Calyptography eliminates these limitations:
– It does not alter a single bit of the image, ensuring perfect imperceptibility.
– Users can use any copy of the original image, even if compressed or resized, without losing security.
– It is inherently robust to image modifications, maintaining reliability across storage and sharing platforms.

Calyptography turns images into cryptographic elements rather than secret carriers, enabling a secure and untraceable way to protect information.

Traditionally, sensitive data is protected using password-based encryption, where cryptographic keys are derived from user passwords. Achieving a 128-bit security strength typically requires at least a 21-character random password, something complex and hard to remember (e.g., jlE5FSPTT7fi4YnZ63Xy2).

Weaker or more predictable passwords significantly reduce encryption strength, making data vulnerable to brute-force attacks.

Images offer a much better alternative. Each image is composed of thousands (or millions) of pixels, each containing unique color data. Even a small 200×200-pixel image can contain over 120,000 bits of entropy, nearly 1,000 times the strength of a 21-character password.

Using the Calyptography method, Secrets Vault generates 256-bit, quantum-safe keys from images, equivalent to a 42-character random password, but far easier to use and remember.

Yes, as long as the changes don’t significantly alter the essence of the image (e.g., heavy cropping).

Our protocol is specifically designed to handle typical image manipulations that occur when storing or sharing images on external platforms, such as social networks or cloud services.

Unlike other methods, where even a single pixel change can prevent recovery, Secrets Vault’s technology extracts invariant image information. This allows the same data to be securely recovered even after resizing, compression or watermarking, making sharing and storage both flexible and secure.

No, there are no specific limitations on the type or length of data that can be protected. Practical limits are defined by the user’s device and the selected service license. Currently, data protection sizes can reach 1 gigabyte or more, depending on the plan and processing capabilities.

Only a minimum size is required to ensure enough entropy for secure protection. The current lower limit is 50,000 pixels (around a 224×224-pixel image).

This threshold is already well below the size of most modern images. For instance, a standard VGA image (640×480) contains over 300,000 pixels, well above the minimum.

Future updates may lower this requirement further, but current limits are already optimized for today’s typical image resolutions.

No. The security strength of our scheme is independent of image size.

This means the image can be resized, for example, scaled down for sharing without reducing its cryptographic strength.

We currently maintain a minimum effective resolution of 50,000 pixels (about 224×224) to ensure consistent 256-bit quantum-resilient security.

We are actively researching improvements that could lower this limit even further without compromising protection.

The Keepic is essential for recovering your secret. Without it, recovery is impossible even if you still have access to the Kvault. Losing the Keepic is like losing the password or encryption key that protects your data.

We recommend storing multiple copies of your Keepic in secure, reliable locations. Since the Keepic can be any public image, you can safely choose one that’s widely accessible (for example, a museum painting) or store it on public platforms or social media without worrying about compression or resizing. Because the Keepic is never altered, it remains indistinguishable from any ordinary image, blending seamlessly among publicly shared visuals.

No. The encrypted data is protected using post-quantum cryptographic algorithms, meaning it cannot be decrypted, not now, and not even when quantum computers become available.

Additionally, our solution prevents unauthorized data access. Encrypted information cannot be downloaded from the server unless the user first proves knowledge of the correct Keepic through a zero-knowledge verification process. This mechanism greatly reduces the risk of data exposure, even if an attacker were to compromise the authentication process.

All cryptographic operations are performed entirely on the user’s device, ensuring that neither the secret nor the Keepic ever leaves the user’s control.

The only component transmitted externally is the Kvault, which is securely managed by the Secrets Vault platform. Alongside it, a Keepic commitment is sent for future recovery. This commitment allows Secrets Vault to verify, using zero-knowledge proofs, that the user possesses the correct Keepic, without ever revealing the image itself.

This process ensures that the Keepic always remains private and prevents impersonation or unauthorized recovery attempts.

The strength of cryptography is based on the computational power required to break encryption, that is, to find the private key protecting the information. Current algorithms are designed to resist attacks from classical computers, and their strength scales according to technological progress (following Moore’s Law, where computing power roughly doubles every 1.5–2 years).

However, quantum computers will fundamentally change this balance. They can execute algorithms that exploit quantum mechanical properties to solve problems exponentially faster than classical systems.

For example, Shor’s algorithm (not “Groove”) allows quantum computers to find private keys from current asymmetric encryption systems (like RSA or ECC) in hours or days, instead of thousands of years. When quantum computers reach sufficient stability (measured in qubits), they will be able to decrypt any information protected with traditional cryptography.

While today’s quantum computers are still in early development, it is widely recognized as a matter of when, not if, this threat becomes real.

Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) refers to a new generation of cryptographic algorithms designed to remain secure even against quantum computing attacks.

PQC algorithms can be executed on today’s standard computers, but are mathematically resistant to quantum-based attacks that could break existing systems. This means that data protected with post-quantum algorithms will remain safe both now and in the quantum future.

When quantum computers become capable of breaking today’s algorithms, data protected by traditional encryption will no longer be secure.

However, the risk is already present today through what is known as a “harvest-now, decrypt-later” attack. In this scenario, attackers collect encrypted data now, such as passwords, seed phrases, contracts, or confidential communications and wait until quantum computers can decrypt it. This could expose years of private information in the future.

In the short term, this primarily threatens data privacy. In the medium term, it could compromise authentication credentials and digital signatures, allowing attackers to reconstruct private keys and impersonate legitimate users.

Migrating to post-quantum cryptography now is the only way to prevent these future threats.

Yes. Governments and regulatory institutions are already setting deadlines for organizations to transition to post-quantum security. Entities that handle confidential or critical data are the first to be affected.

Depending on the country:
– By 2026: Organizations must have a post-quantum migration plan in place.
– By 2030: Critical systems are expected to be fully quantum-safe.
– By 2035: The migration should be completed across all remaining systems.

This transition is being driven by global initiatives such as NIST’s Post-Quantum Cryptography Standardization Project, which is defining the next generation of cryptographic standards to ensure long-term data security.