Imagine a future where today’s most secure data, from financial records to national secrets, could be instantly deciphered. This isn’t science fiction; it’s the emerging reality of quantum computing.
While quantum computers promise unprecedented breakthroughs, they also threaten the cryptographic foundation on which global cybersecurity has been built. Powerful quantum computers known as cryptographically relevant quantum computers (CRQC) will compromise public-key cryptography, putting encrypted data and secure communications at risk.
We estimate that CRQCs may begin to emerge before 2035, if not sooner. Recent technical breakthroughs – including distributed quantum algorithms developed at Oxford, Google’s high-fidelity Willow chip, and more – provide a call to action to secure cryptography for a post-quantum world. For banks, insurers, and healthcare organizations, quantum computers threaten confidentiality and integrity of sensitive customer data. R&D-heavy industries must secure their intellectual property.
Compounding this risk is the well-documented “Harvest Now, Decrypt Later” (HNDL) tactic, where adversaries collect encrypted data today with the intent to decrypt it once quantum capabilities mature. For enterprises and governments alike, this creates long-term exposure, risking the compromise of sensitive credentials, communications, and operational data that adversaries can exploit long after it is intercepted.
The Hidden Risk: Trust Collapse
Beyond data confidentiality lies a more systemic and immediate quantum risk: foundational trust breakdown.
Modern digital systems depend on a shared cryptographic trust layer to function securely – software and firmware signing, identity and certificates, secure boot, update validation, device attestation, and integrity checks that prevent tampering. If quantum attacks undermine these integrity mechanisms, systems can no longer reliably verify what is legitimate.
In this scenario, attackers don’t just read encrypted data. They can impersonate trusted systems, push malicious updates, bypass security controls, and subvert operational decision-making at scale. Once integrity protections fail, the trust assumptions that underpin entire environments can unravel simultaneously.
Break the integrity layer once, and the consequences propagate everywhere – across devices, networks, and applications – turning isolated cryptographic weaknesses into systemic operational failure. The stakes are clear. Cisco is leading the global transition to Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) to deliver resilient infrastructure for a quantum-enabled world.
Our Strategic Response: A Two-Pillar PQC Approach
Cisco’s PQC strategy is built to address both sides of the quantum problem – confidentiality (protecting data in transit from HNDL) and integrity (preserving the trust foundations – including root-of-trust and secure storage, that products and platforms depend on). This logic underpins our core pillars:
- Secure Communications
- Secure Products
Together, these pillars deliver comprehensive, end-to-end protection against quantum-era threats – securing data in transit while reinforcing the integrity of the platforms customers rely on.
From Strategy to Execution: Two Pillars, Two Workstreams
The Secure Communications pillar focuses on reducing quantum risk in data-in-transit, while the Secure Products pillar focuses on embedding quantum-resistant trust foundations directly into Cisco platforms, ensuring customers don’t have to choose between protecting network traffic and protecting the infrastructure that enforces it.
While securing network traffic is paramount, a truly quantum-safe posture requires more than protecting data in transit. It demands that quantum-resistant security be embedded directly into the products, platforms, and systems that form the backbone of modern infrastructure.
In our next blog, we’ll dive deeper into each pillar, starting with Secure Communications and turning to Secure Products. To get ahead of these emerging threats, visit the Trust Center to learn more at www.cisco.com/go/pqc.
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