"The first quantum attacks will be by highly resourced entities, perhaps even nations states, and they will target high-value assets," said Antti Ropponen, executive partner and global data and application security services leader at IBM Cybersecurity Services.
One of the key risks posed by quantum computers, which are exponentially more powerful than traditional computers, is that bad actors will use their computing power to break traditional cryptographic tools upon which most of the world's security systems are based. And they'll be able to do it with ease.
However, according to Ropponen, organisations can achieve quantum safety without necessarily having access to quantum computing tools themselves.
"If we look at quantum-safe technology overall, it is about systems that are resilient to the risk from quantum computing being used in malicious ways. There are three broad categories when it comes to quantum safety: post-quantum cryptography, quantum key distribution and quantum random number generators," said Ropponen. "We often hear that to be quantum safe, you need to use a quantum computer. But the answer to that is no."
According to Ropponen, organisations are in danger from bad actors whose aim is to steal encrypted data, store it for a few years and then use quantum computing to decrypt it only to use it nefariously at an opportune moment.
