In a paper in the ISACA Journal Michele Mosca, Ph.D, has highlighted the importance of preparing for the threats to cybersecurity that will be engendered by quantum computing.
The paper points out that quantum computing will result in all of the deployed public key cryptography being completely broken; and brute force attacks of symmetric ciphers will be significantly speeded up.
Organizations have stood on the sidelines and watched as research in quantum computing has progressed however “the wait-and-see approach is no longer a responsible option” says the author. “Protecting against quantum risk takes many years of planning and deployment. The realistic timelines for evolving to a quantum-safe infrastructure are comparable to the timelines for the quantum risk to become a reality. If one is responsible for providing medium- or long-term confidentiality, the risk of waiting is even more acute.”
