IETF | Support for MLS

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In October 2026, the Internet Architecture Board (IAB) held a two-day workshop in Prague with people who are deploying post-quantum authentication. These are the first impressions from the co-chairs, ahead of the full workshop report.
Email is the oldest widely used application on the Internet, but it continues to evolve. At IETF 127 four working groups will meet to improve the security and usability of mail, and two Birds-of-a-Feather sessions propose improvements in mail operations and the way users sign up for mail subscriptions.
The IETF Administration LLC has prepared its draft budget for 2027 and now seeks community feedback.
These IETF 127 meeting sessions are likely to include discussions and proposals that are accessible to a broad range of Internet technologists whether they are new to the IETF or long-time participants.
Several new features implemented on RFC-Editor.org aim to make the site more useful and engaging for RFC consumers.
Messaging Layer Security (MLS) has been developed with broad participation and input to make it easy for apps to provide the highest level of end-to-end security for their users
Read more about how MLS was developed, is designed to be efficient and secure, and can be easily updated.
“The Messaging Layer Security protocol (MLS) is truly remarkable. It is the culmination of close global collaboration between engineers, applied cryptographers, security professionals, and private citizens from across industry, academia, and the wider public. MLS’s design was created from the ground up with a privacy first approach to security by design, openness, best practices and countless hard won-lessons gained over decades of cryptographic protocol design and secure communication. As a result, MLS embodies the state-of-the-art in end-to-end encryption with unmatched flexibility, scalability, agility, and resilience. This makes MLS a truly powerful tool in the defense of privacy and digital security.
“Since the early days of MLS, AWS has been a core contributor by sharing our cryptographic expertise and engineering experience. We are proud to have been a part of this major milestone on our collective path towards a more private and secure world and look forward to MLS becoming a central pillar of how people and devices communicate.”
Joël Alwen, Principal Applied Scientist with AWS Wickr
“Cisco is committed to providing collaboration solutions that ensure the privacy and security of users and their content. We've supported the Messaging Layer Security (MLS) effort since its inception — including by using a draft version of MLS for Webex Zero Trust meetings — and are delighted to welcome the publication of the MLS protocol standard. We're looking forward to using MLS to enable stronger end-to-end security in Webex meetings and more places to come.”
Richard Barnes, Distinguished Engineer, Security and Collaboration, Cisco
“As an advocate for a more secure and trustworthy Internet, Cloudflare welcomes the publication of the Messaging Layer Security (MLS) protocol standard. We believe that the focus on end-to-end security for group communication aligns perfectly with our mission to help build a better Internet. With MLS, we see a future where large-scale, dynamic group communication can be private, secure, and efficient. We are eager to support and adopt this promising new standard, reinforcing our pledge to deliver top-tier security solutions for a safer and more secure digital world.”
Nick Sullivan, Head of Research, Cloudflare
"As the first open standard for end-to-end encrypted messaging, Messaging Layer Security (MLS) fills a critical protocol gap for secure, modern messaging. With seven years of development, MLS is mature and rigorously validated, making it the ideal choice to provide the security foundations of interoperable messaging."
Giles Hogben, Director of Privacy Engineering, Android
“Matrix is a strong proponent of open standards and secure communication, so MLS is a great fit for us. We’re pleased to have participated in the standardization process, along with many other organizations. By being produced in the open in the IETF process, MLS will benefit from the experience and knowledge of many groups and individuals.
“MLS provides more opportunities for improving the security of con