On December 21, 2022, President Biden signed the Quantum Computing Cybersecurity Preparedness Act.
The risk of quantum-powered password decryption is increasing exponentially. The new legislation is designed to help federal agencies proactively shift to a post-quantum security posture. Agencies have until May 4, 2023, to submit an inventory of potentially vulnerable systems, and the Act directs the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to prioritize the adoption of post-quantum cryptography standards.
For businesses, government efforts to address emerging quantum risks are canaries in digital coal mines. There’s a real risk on the horizon, and the time to act is now.
The Quantifiable Quantum Impact
Despite ongoing investment, research and development, quantum computing advantages remain largely theoretical. As efforts close in on practical applications, however, companies must understand how quantum technology could help — and potentially harm — day-to-day operations.
Put simply, quantum computers go beyond the binary states of 1 and 0 to vastly improve processing power. Unlike traditional computers, which store bits of information as either 1 or 0, quantum bits (qubits) make it possible for particles to exist in multiple states at the same time. This means that a qubit isn’t 1 or 0 or both — it’s somewhere in the middle. It’s also more about probability and particle interaction than high-level descriptions convey. But for the purposes of quantum computing power, the shift away from binary is the critical component.
While initial research focused on creating and sustaining these qubit states, recent efforts have scaled up the number of qubits a computer contains. For example, IBM researchers recently unveiled a 433-qubit computer named Osprey, a significant step up from the 127-qubit ..
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