Banks, governments and technology providers need to be prepared for quantum computer hackers capable of breaking most existing encryption systems by 2029, Google has warned.
The tech company said in a blogpost that quantum computers would pose a “significant threat to current cryptographic standards” before the end of the decade and urged other companies to follow its lead.
The company, owned by Alphabet, said: “The encryption currently used to keep your information confidential and secure could easily be broken by a large-scale quantum computer in coming years.”
As it stands, quantum computers – which can rapidly carry out complex tasks – are a nascent technology with great potential and significant obstacles to being widely usable.
It also needs to factor in a threat models. Maybe this is important for governments or giant conglomerates, but an average hacker isn’t going to have their hands on a quantum computing rig to just use. Until its use becomes widespread on a consumer level it will be mostly used by corporations and governments. I think it will be a while before a criminal organization has one, but maybe I am wrong.