The inevitable
rise and potential disruptive force quantum computing will present when it
becomes a reality means it is never too early to start preparing.

These words
of wisdom came from McAfee CTO Steve Grobman during his keynote address at RSA
Conference 2020.

Grobman
noted that even if quantum computing, and its ability to decrypt even the most
sophisticated encryption algorithms, is still decades away organizations and governments
need to prepare now. That is because truly vital data, think military secrets
or Social Security Numbers, are vital to their owners for a lifetime – if not
longer.

Quantum is a
real risk today, assume adversaries are accessing and taking your encrypted
data today with an eye toward decrypting whenever quantum computing becomes a
reality, Grobman said. The mindset that must be adapted is for security
professionals is if sets of data can be decrypted in 10 or 15 years how will
that impact the organization.

“We need
quantum resistant algorithms immediately. NIST is doing good work but the
quantum budget is just $30 million,” he said, adding this is just a fraction of
the federal budget being dedicated to solving a national security threat.