---
title: "Treating a quoted security level as comparable"
description: "Benchmarks are compared across systems configured at different security levels. Hash-based systems in particular ship at 96–100 bits in production far more…"
type: "failure-mode"
url: "https://zkpick.com/proof-systems/failure-modes/treating-a-quoted-security-level-as-comparable/"
section: "01 Choosing a proof system"
authors:
  - "MarketComp"
publisher: "MarketComp"
version: "1.3"
updated: "2026-09-12"
license: "CC-BY-4.0"
json: "https://zkpick.com/data/proof-systems/failure-modes/treating-a-quoted-security-level-as-comparable.json"
---

*By MarketComp. Updated 2026-09-12. Version 1.3. CC BY 4.0.*

# Treating a quoted security level as comparable

Benchmarks are compared across systems configured at different security levels. Hash-based systems in particular ship at 96–100 bits in production far more often than teams assume, and a proof size quoted at 96 bits is not comparable to one quoted at 128.

**Mitigation:** Require a full written parameter statement with every benchmark, and normalise to a common target before comparing. Treat any bit count without its derivation as unverified.