SSLBoard Achieves Post-Quantum Cryptography Readiness with Cloudflare

SSLBoard Achieves Post-Quantum Cryptography Readiness with Cloudflare

In a significant move toward future-proofing digital security, SSLBoard has successfully transitioned to post-quantum cryptography (PQC) readiness by leveraging Cloudflare’s advanced infrastructure. This transformation represents a strategic shift from traditional Kubernetes-based TLS termination to a more secure, quantum-resistant architecture.

The Challenge: Traditional Infrastructure Limitations

SSLBoard, like many organizations, initially relied on a conventional setup using ingress-nginx within their Kubernetes cluster for TLS termination, with cert-manager handling certificate management. While this architecture served well for traditional cryptographic needs, it presented significant challenges when attempting to implement post-quantum cryptography.

The core issue lay in the complexity of upgrading existing ingress-nginx and cert-manager configurations to support PQC algorithms. These traditional tools weren’t designed with quantum-resistant algorithms in mind, making the upgrade path neither straightforward nor guaranteed to work seamlessly with existing infrastructure.

The Solution: Cloudflare’s PQC-Ready Platform

SSLBoard’s existing relationship with Cloudflare for frontend hosting provided the perfect opportunity to leapfrog the infrastructure upgrade challenges. Cloudflare, a pioneer in post-quantum cryptography implementation since 2017, had already deployed PQC at scale across their global network, with over 40% of human-generated traffic already using quantum-resistant encryption.

The solution came in the form of Cloudflare Tunnel, an innovative Kubernetes ingress replacement that eliminates the need for traditional ingress controllers. This approach offers several compelling advantages:

1. Automatic PQC Implementation

Cloudflare handles all TLS termination at their edge, utilizing state-of-the-art post-quantum cryptography including ML-KEM (Module-Lattice-Based Key-Encapsulation Mechanism) for key exchange. This means SSLBoard’s traffic is automatically protected against “harvest now, decrypt later” attacks without any code changes or infrastructure modifications.

2. End-to-End Quantum Security

The security benefits extend beyond just the client-to-Cloudflare connection. Communication between SSLBoard’s Kubernetes cluster and Cloudflare is also encrypted using post-quantum cryptography, ensuring complete protection across the entire data path. This comprehensive approach addresses both encryption and authentication mechanisms, providing robust defense against future quantum computing threats.

3. Simplified Certificate Management

Cloudflare takes full responsibility for certificate issuance and renewals, eliminating the operational overhead associated with cert-manager. This not only reduces maintenance burden but also ensures certificates are always up-to-date with the latest cryptographic standards.

4. Resource Optimization

By shifting inbound request handling to Cloudflare’s edge network, SSLBoard’s Kubernetes cluster no longer needs to manage incoming connections. This architectural change results in significant resource savings, allowing the cluster to focus on application logic rather than connection management.

The Technical Implementation

The migration to Cloudflare Tunnel represents a fundamental shift in how SSLBoard handles traffic flow. Instead of traditional ingress controllers managing incoming connections, Cloudflare Tunnel creates an encrypted tunnel from the Kubernetes cluster to Cloudflare’s edge network. This tunnel uses post-quantum cryptography to secure all communications, ensuring that even the connection between origin and edge is quantum-resistant.

When a user accesses SSLBoard, their request is handled by Cloudflare’s edge, where TLS termination occurs using PQC algorithms. The request is then forwarded through the encrypted tunnel to the Kubernetes cluster, maintaining security throughout the entire journey.

Looking Forward

SSLBoard’s transition to PQC readiness through Cloudflare represents more than just a security upgrade: it’s a strategic positioning for the quantum future. With NIST announcing phased deprecation of RSA and Elliptic Curve Cryptography by 2035, organizations that act early to implement post-quantum cryptography will be better positioned to handle compliance requirements and emerging threats.

This case study demonstrates that achieving quantum readiness doesn’t necessarily require complex infrastructure overhauls or quantum hardware. By leveraging Cloudflare’s PQC-ready platform, organizations can implement quantum-resistant security today using existing infrastructure, protecting their data from both current and future threats while maintaining performance and reducing operational complexity.

SSLBoard’s successful migration serves as a blueprint for other organizations facing similar challenges, proving that the path to post-quantum security can be both straightforward and operationally efficient when approached with the right technology partner.

Check Your Own PQC Readiness

Of course you can check your PQC readiness from within SSLBoard, but we’ve decided to give back to the community.

That’s why we’re launching our free QCready.com tool to assess how your company fares in terms of PQC implementation. The tool provides instant analysis of your TLS configuration and identifies whether your infrastructure is protected against quantum threats, giving you the quick assessment you need.

Photo by Nicolas Arnold on Unsplash