- A new report from the Quantum Economic Development Consortium (QED-C) warns of the potential quantum threat to secure financial sector data.
- The report provides recommendations for governments and companies to protect financial transactions and stored data from quantum attacks.
OUR TAKE
Quantum computing endangers financial sector security, with the QED-C report urging the swift move to quantum-resistant technologies and improved defences to protect against the ability of quantum advancements to decrypt current algorithms and jeopardise transactions and data.
— Zoey Zhu, BTW reporter
What happened
The Quantum Economic Development Consortium (QED-C), an association of global quantum technology leaders, has issued a new report warning about the quantum threat to secure financial sector data. The “Quantum Technology for Securing Financial Messaging” report examines the potential impacts of quantum computing, networking, and communications on the finance industry and recommends immediate actions to protect against these threats.
The report highlights the risk that quantum computing could pose to financial transactions and stored data, potentially exposing them to attacks. QED-C, which includes industry members like IBM, Wells Fargo, JPMorgan, AWS, and Toshiba, provides actionable insights and recommendations to minimise these risks.
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Why it’s important
The report underscores the urgency for the financial sector to prepare for the advent of quantum computing. Quantum computers, which leverage the principles of quantum mechanics, promise unprecedented computational power. However, this power comes with the potential to break many of the cryptographic algorithms currently used to secure financial data and communications. This means that without proactive measures, sensitive financial transactions and stored data could be exposed to cyber-attacks.
Financial institutions must recognise the “harvest now, decrypt later” threat, where adversaries collect encrypted data now, with the aim of decrypting it once quantum computers become available. The combination of post-quantum cryptography (PQC) and quantum key distribution (QKD) offers a robust solution to these threats. PQC algorithms are designed to be secure against quantum attacks, while QKD provides a method of secure communication that is theoretically impervious to eavesdropping.
By adopting these technologies, financial institutions can protect against future vulnerabilities. This proactive approach ensures the ongoing security and integrity of financial communications, safeguarding the trust and stability of the financial system in a quantum future.
