For years, organizations have taken a relatively simple approach to new technological threats: watch them evolve, wait until they become concrete, then invest at the right moment.
- “Let's watch how things evolve and we will adjust as needed.”
- “As long as we don't know exactly what will happen, it is better to avoid investing in a solution that could ultimately prove useless or have to be replaced.”
This approach is understandable. It avoids premature investment, limits the risks tied to technology choices, and concentrates resources on the organization's immediate needs. For a long time, this strategy proved sound. With quantum computing, that logic changes completely.
The risk is not that a quantum computer will attack your organization tomorrow. The real risk is that your data will be stolen today to be decrypted tomorrow. This is what is now called Harvest Now, Decrypt Later.
The principle is as simple as it is troubling. Cybercriminals, criminal organizations, or even states can already intercept and store large volumes of encrypted data without being able to exploit it immediately. They are patiently accumulating information capital today in the hope that it may become exploitable tomorrow.
Some organizations might be tempted to downplay this reality by assuming that stolen data will eventually become obsolete. After all, contact details change, employees leave their positions, contracts expire, and infrastructure evolves. Yet this view is misleading. Data often gains value when it is cross-referenced with other sources of information. What seems incomplete today can become extremely revealing tomorrow.
Advances in artificial intelligence, growing computing power, and the proliferation of data sets already make it possible to reconstruct profiles, relationships, behaviors, or information that once seemed unimportant. As a result, even several years after being stolen, some data can retain, and even increase, its strategic value.
Today, your information remains protected by current cryptographic mechanisms. However, when quantum computers reach a level of maturity sufficient to call into question certain widely used algorithms, that same data could be decrypted retroactively. Confidential information stolen today could lose all its confidentiality tomorrow. This reality profoundly transforms the way we approach cybersecurity.
The challenge is no longer to protect systems against today's threats but to protect the information that will have to remain confidential for five, ten, twenty years or more. Consider medical records, financial information, industrial secrets, strategic contracts, government data, critical infrastructure, or intellectual property. For many organizations, the value of this information far exceeds its operational lifespan. Waiting for quantum computers to arrive before acting would be like installing an alarm system after a burglary.
The post-quantum transition is not simply about replacing one cryptographic algorithm with another. It requires a thorough understanding of the organization's protection mechanisms. You have to identify sensitive assets, map cryptographic dependencies, assess the data life cycle, understand the impacts on applications, infrastructure, partners, and suppliers, then plan a gradual migration compatible with operational realities. This preparation is the real challenge.
Algorithms will continue to evolve. Standards will be updated. New recommendations will appear as scientific advances unfold. The organizations that succeed will therefore not necessarily be those that chose the “right” algorithm from the outset. They will be the ones that developed the ability to continuously adapt their technology environment, their governance, and their security practices.
Preparation thus becomes a strategic advantage. It makes it possible to avoid migrations carried out under emergency conditions, to reduce operational risk, and to durably protect the organization's digital capital.
The quantum computer capable of calling into question current cryptographic mechanisms may not yet be in service. Yet some of the data it will one day be able to decrypt may already be stored by those who covet it. The best way to prepare for the post-quantum era is therefore not to wait for its arrival, but to protect today the information that will still have to remain confidential tomorrow.
Quantum Beyond believes that the post-quantum transition is above all a matter of governance, risk management, and organizational readiness. Well before replacing a technology, you must understand what needs to be protected, for how long, against which risks, and according to which priorities.