Microsoft says ‘cryptographically relevant quantum computers could arrive sooner than previously expected’ as it bumps its QSP timeline to 2029

For years now, security researchers have been preparing to fight against cryptanalytic attacks from future quantum computers. But Microsoft has had to push up its timeline, as those attacks seem much closer than otherwise anticipated.

As reported by Bleepingcomputer, Microsoft recently published a blog post informing users of its new deadline. Microsoft plans to accelerate its Quantum Safe Program (QSP) to be quantum-apocalypse-ready by 2029.

Microsoft says that post-quantum cryptography “was framed as a future problem: important, inevitable, but distant. That perspective is evolving as technology advances and organizations prepare for the scale and complexity of the transition ahead.”

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Q-Day (or Y2Q) is the name given to the moment when quantum computers become so powerful that they can crack current encryption techniques with ease. That is what the original timeline was based around. Now, though, Microsoft believes “cryptographically relevant quantum computers could arrive sooner than previously expected—and the work required to prepare is significant so organizations need to start now.”

There’s also the ‘harvest now, decrypt later’ method to consider, in which threat actors take in whatever data they can find now in order to analyse and crack the info when quantum-cracking technology comes online. This means that companies are looking to make their data secure from quantum decryption in advance. It’s not good enough to be secure now. Companies have to be secure in the future.

Microsoft campus

(Image credit: Microsoft/Getty Images)

Most computers right now encrypt data with algorithms based on mathematical problems that can be easily solved with quantum computers, so post-quantum cryptography is intended to go one layer deeper.

However, even if the work is successful, it is still unproven. We still don’t know if a future quantum computer could potentially crack newly made algorithms, partly because… well, we don’t have access to future technology. Microsoft argues its QSP goes beyond future cryptography and is only part of a “broader effort to strengthen long-term resilience across identity, infrastructure, data, and supply-chain security.”

From here, Microsoft says that customers should make themselves aware of the plan to bring forward this quantum safe timeline and learn more about how to implement it when they do. It seems like the next few years are very important for researchers, and security developers will have to do their best to outpace attackers.