{"id":214845,"date":"2026-05-17T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-17T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/17\/quantum-computing-threatens-to-unleash-a-cybersecurity-crisis\/"},"modified":"2026-05-17T05:05:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-17T09:05:09","slug":"quantum-computing-threatens-to-unleash-a-cybersecurity-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/17\/quantum-computing-threatens-to-unleash-a-cybersecurity-crisis\/","title":{"rendered":"Quantum computing threatens to unleash a cybersecurity crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"

Quantum computing threatens to unleash a cybersecurity crisis<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/edition.cnn.com\/2026\/05\/17\/science\/quantum-computing-cybersecurity-q-day<\/a><\/p>\n

Publish Date: 2026-05-17 05:00:00<\/a><\/p>\n

Source Domain: edition.cnn.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Author: <\/a><\/p>\n

Using an unordered list, summarize the following article with between 4 and 8 key points. <\/p>\n

The clock is ticking on Q-Day, the looming yet unknown date when quantum computing will have the capacity to quickly and easily break the encryption keys that keep most internet communication safe.<\/p>\n

Experts have known about the hypothetical risk of Q-Day since the 1990s. But Google recently warned that quantum computers may be able to hack some encrypted systems by 2029 \u2014 a timeline that drastically narrows the window to safeguard data that many cybersecurity specialists had previously predicted. The new estimate means that governments, companies and other entities may have far less time to prepare.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the day when people, perhaps adversaries, will have access to a quantum computer that can break cryptographic codes that are in use,\u201d said Michele Mosca, cofounder and CEO of cybersecurity company evolutionQ.<\/p>\n

Q-Day marks the moment a quantum computer gains enough resources and stability to crack conventional crytopgraphy. When that happens, every financial transaction, medical file, email, location history and crypto wallet protected by today\u2019s commonly used algorithms could be unlocked by a machine capable of solving the complex math that currently keeps sensitive data secure.<\/p>\n

At that game-changing turning point, \u201ceverything\u2019s safe \u2014 safe, safe \u2014 and then suddenly it\u2019s not safe. It\u2019s a very drastic jump,\u201d said Mosca, who is also a professor at the Institute for Quantum Computing at the University of Waterloo in Ontario.<\/p>\n

Adversaries and bad actors may already be collecting encrypted data, with the intention of launching \u201charvest now, decrypt later\u201d attacks. In this scenario, information is stolen, stored and then decrypted when a full-scale quantum computer is available, he added.<\/p>\n

Mosca has coauthored the Quantum Threat Timeline Report, published by the Global Risk Institute in Toronto, since 2019. The seventh edition, published March 9, suggested a full-scale, cryptographically relevant quantum computer was \u201cquite possible\u201d within the next 10 years, and \u201clikely\u201d in the next 15. Mosca and his coauthor based their prediction on the opinions of 26 experts.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany organizations may be unaware that they are currently exposed to an intolerable level of risk that requires urgent action,\u201d the report authors wrote.<\/p>\n

Google said on March 25 that it was targeting 2029 \u201cto secure the quantum era\u201d with post-quantum cryptography. The timeline reflected advances in the quantum computing field, the company said. \u201cBy doing this, we hope to provide the clarity and urgency needed to accelerate digital transitions not only for Google, but also across the industry,\u201d it noted in a blog post. Similarly, cloud computing services company CloudFlare announced it was also now targeting 2029. Google declined an interview request.<\/p>\n

Cryptography is the invisible plumbing that keeps the global economy spinning. Most internet security \u2014 think of the tiny padlock symbol in your internet browser \u2014 is currently based on encryption that relies on a quirk of math. While multiplying numbers is relatively easy, the inverse of that process \u2014 factorizing \u2014 is not.<\/p>\n

RSA cryptography \u2014 named after its creators Ron Rivest, Adi Shamir and Leonard Adleman \u2014 is one of the most common encryption algorithms and uses this approach. The Quantum Threat Timeline Report defines a cryptographically relevant computer as one that could, for example, break RSA encryption in 24 hours.<\/p>\n

Quantum computing isn\u2019t simply a more powerful or faster version of the computers in use today. This form of processing works in a fundamentally different way.<\/p>\n

Unlike standard computers that process information sequentially using bits (0 or 1), quantum computers employ quantum bits \u2014 \u201cqubits\u201d \u2014 that can represent 0, 1 or both simultaneously. Known as superposition, this property enables quantum machines to hold and process more complex information.<\/p>\n

The main challenge the field needs to overcome is making more stable physical qubits. These sensitive components typically only function in extremely cold, high-vacuum environments \u2014 conditions that help keep them stable and less prone to errors during calculations.<\/p>\n

Future quantum computers may be capable of breaking the second-generation cryptography that protects cryptocurrency and other systems with far fewer qubits than previously realized, according to a March report. The paper was coauthored by Google employees and academics at the University of California Berkeley, Stanford University, and Ethereum Foundation, a nonprofit that supports the Ethereum blockchain.<\/p>\n

Known as elliptic curve cryptography or ECC, the encryption technique uses more obscure math than the RSA algorithm; it relies on equations that can be represented as curved lines on a graph, and generates encryption keys based on different points on the line.<\/p>\n

Google said in a March 31 blog post that the research team found an approximately 20-fold reduction in the number of physical qubits needed to solve the fundamental math puzzle that underpins ECC. The company added it developed a new method to describe the security vulnerabilities that future quantum computers present, \u201cso they can be verified without providing a roadmap for bad actors.\u201d<\/p>\n

Most blockchain technologies and cryptocurrencies currently rely on elliptical curve cryptography for critical aspects of their security, the Google post said. While viable solutions exist, the post added \u201cthey will take time to implement, bringing increasing urgency to act.\u201d<\/p>\n

The paper has not yet been peer-reviewed, but it can be considered a \u201cwarning shot,\u201d particularly to the cryptocurrency community, said Catherine Mulligan, a visiting academic and research fellow at the Institute for Security Science and Technology at Imperial College London.<\/p>\n

\u201cCryptocurrencies are inherently incredibly decentralized,\u201d she said. \u201cThe issue is in order to upgrade, you have to get people to agree, and you have to get consensus among the actual engineers to upgrade, and then they tend to argue a lot about how they\u2019re going to do that upgrade,\u201d Mulligan said.<\/p>\n

The good news, she explained, is that governments, including the United States and the United Kingdom, have published standards for post-quantum cryptography.<\/p>\n

These guidelines primarily involve software upgrades that rely on math \u201corders of magnitude more complex\u201d to solve than traditional approaches, Mulligan said. In addition, some companies and governments may pair that with quantum key cryptography, particularly for highly sensitive information.<\/p>\n

Quantum key cryptography allows two parties aiming to share sensitive data to establish a secure encryption key with secrecy ensured by the laws of physics, not the computational difficulty of a mathematical problem.<\/p>\n

The protocol, first conceived in the 1980s by this year\u2019s winners of the Turing Prize, involves using photons of light to create a secret key between two parties. However, the method involves specialist hardware that can make it more expensive and difficult to deploy.<\/p>\n

Some researchers compare the quantum threat with Y2K, or the millennium bug, a computer flaw that programmers thought might cause severe systemic problems after December 31, 1999.<\/p>\n

When the first computer programs were being written, engineers used a two-digit code for the year because in those days data storage was costly. For example, for the year 1977, the date read 77. As the year 2000 neared, programmers realized that computers might not interpret 00 as 2000, but as 1900, potentially causing disruption.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know that we have these doomsday scenarios, where we are sort of scaring everybody,\u201d Mulligan said. \u201cI\u2019m old enough to remember Y2K. Basically, the reason there was no Y2K is everyone worked hard enough to make sure we didn\u2019t have it.\u201d Mulligan said she thought that\u2019s what would probably happen with the quantum threat to cybersecurity.<\/p>\n

However, whether the new threat will be tackled with similar urgency is unclear. Just over 90% of businesses still lack a road map for handling quantum security threats, according to data cited by McKinsey.<\/p>\n

The potential costs of not preparing adequately are eye-watering.A 2023 report by the Hudson Institute, a US conservative think tank, estimated that a quantum computer cyberattack on the Federal Reserve\u2019s Fedwire Funds Service \u2014 its interbank payment system \u2014 could trigger a financial collapse and result in a six-month economic recession.<\/p>\n

Dustin Moody, a mathematician involved in post-quantum cryptography at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, a US federal agency, said big, multinational companies were well aware of the threat and \u201cmoving pretty quickly.\u201d However, he said there was a limit to the action individuals and small companies could take.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone should be concerned and worried about it,\u201d Moody said.\u201cWhat does the average person need to do? Nothing. I mean, they need to rely on their technology providers and so forth to handle this change for them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSimilarly with smaller mom-and-pop companies, they themselves don\u2019t need to do too much, as long as they just make sure that the products they\u2019re using, they talk to providers and say, \u2018There\u2019s this quantum threat, have you taken care of it?\u2019\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

The White House recommends 2035 as the year entities should aim to have adopted post-quantum cryptography, Moody said. NIST finalized a set of encryption algorithms in 2024 designed to withstand cyberattacks from a quantum computer.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf everyone were to migrate on time, we\u2019d be in good shape, but the problem is that\u2019s not going to happen in the real world,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ve had cryptographic migrations in the past, switching from one algorithm to another, typically that takes anywhere from 10 to 20 years, and this migration is going to be more complicated and more costly than the previous ones. So, if a quantum computer comes out in five years, the transition will not be done yet.\u201d<\/p>\n

What\u2019s more, while organizations adopt quantum-safe protection, doing so only will defend future data against the quantum threat, Moody and Mulligan noted, given the risk that \u201cstore now, decrypt later\u201d attacks may already be in the works.<\/p>\n

Electronic health records, which contain long-term medical histories and genetic information, could be prime targets for these types of attacks. \u201cThe thing is, you can upgrade your software, but you can\u2019t really upgrade your DNA,\u201d Mulligan said.<\/p>\n

Seoyoon Jang, a doctoral student in electrical engineering and computer science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is working to protect wireless biomedical devices, such as insulin pumps and pacemakers, from potential quantum attacks. These tiny, widely used devices are usually too power-constrained to run the computationally demanding security protocols necessary in a post-quantum world.<\/p>\n

She sets out a worst-case scenario in which the external device, often a smartphone that wirelessly connects to the insulin pump to regulate dosage, is hacked. \u201cImagine, it would be so easy to send a command: \u2018Hey release lethal dosage.\u2019 We have to actually care about this,\u201d she said.\u201d \u201cAs we move into remote health monitoring, these devices will be everywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

Together with her colleagues, Jang has engineered an ultra-efficient microchip, around the size of an extremely fine needle tip, that includes built-in protection needed for post-quantum cybersecurity. The device achieved between 20 and 60 times higher energy efficiency than other post-quantum security techniques they compared it with. The microchip has a smaller area than many existing chips.<\/p>\n

The work was in part funded by the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health or ARPA-H, which Jang said planned to commercialize the technology. \u201cMy chip is as far as I know, it\u2019s the first to actually try to bridge the gap here,\u201d she said. ARPA-H is part of the US Department of Health and Human Services.<\/p>\n

The latest Quantum Threat Timeline Report said it\u2019s particularly hard to evaluate quantum risk to cybersecurity because \u201cunder the radar\u201d research efforts \u2014 by secret state-backed labs, companies operating in stealth or malicious private actors \u2014 could mean that advances in quantum computing are hidden from view.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince covert successes would remain invisible for some time, it is safer to assume that the true threat could be closer than what can be inferred from open publications alone,\u201d the report said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe real Q-day may occur before the world becomes aware of it, as states or bad actors potentially seek to use this knowledge to their strategic advantage.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sign up for CNN\u2019s Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news on fascinating discoveries, scientific advancements and more.<\/p>\n

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