Quantum Computers May Put Internet Traffic at Risk. NIST Is Safeguarding Computers With New Standards. | NIST

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https://www.nist.gov/blogs/taking-measure/quantum-computers-may-put-internet-traffic-risk-nist-safeguarding-computers-new

Taking Measure

Just a Standard Blog

Quantum Computers May Put Internet Traffic at Risk. NIST Is Safeguarding Computers With New Standards.

July 30, 2026

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Sufficiently powerful quantum computers could expose all our personal information, financial transactions, and business and government secrets. NIST researcher Andrew Regenscheid is working to get ahead of the issue.

Credit:

M. King/NIST

From our bank accounts to smartphones, all our sensitive data and devices are protected with a technology known as cryptography.<br>Present-day cryptography essentially uses a very challenging set of math problems that are nearly impossible for current computers to solve. These math problems act as a “lock” to keep hackers or spies away from the personal information in your “house.”<br>But experts are working to develop specialized machines known as quantum computers. Quantum computers have incredible potential to do tasks that current computers struggle with, such as discovering new medications.<br>The downside is that they may also have the potential to thwart today’s cryptography. Sufficiently powerful versions of these machines could put all our personal information, financial transactions, and business and government secrets at risk.<br>Government agencies, technology companies and standards organizations are working to build stronger locks by updating the encryption we rely on to protect computers, information and internet traffic from the threat of quantum computers. We call this post-quantum cryptography (PQC). The goal of PQC is to make those math problems so challenging that even a quantum computer can’t solve them.<br>This need is urgent because industry and researchers are making significant advances toward building quantum computers. So, we need to win this race to ensure that our data remains protected.<br>Taking Measure spoke with Andrew Regenscheid, a NIST mathematician and cryptographic expert, about what a PQC world looks like and how we can prepare for it.<br>Can you describe how our data is encrypted on computers and over the internet now?<br>Cryptography is the fundamental technology used on computers to protect information, whether it is stored on a device or communicated over the internet. This cryptography uses algorithms based on math problems that are challenging for computers to solve. Computers we have now can’t easily do those math problems to break the encrypted algorithms.<br>But in the future, quantum computers will likely be able to crack these codes. So, we will need to adjust our algorithms accordingly to resist attacks against our data and devices.<br>What are the risks if we’re unprepared for quantum computers?<br>The risk is that someone may develop a quantum computer that can reveal sensitive information you send online (or store on a device), whether that’s bank account information, medical records, sensitive trade secrets for a business, or information that the government holds. All of this and more would be threatened if we don’t move to new techniques that can prevent attacks from quantum computers.<br>How close are we to a quantum computer that could actually put current encryption at risk?<br>We don’t know, but we do see significant progress in industry and the research community. Current quantum computers are much too small and unstable to threaten cryptography. The concern is that quantum computers could become what we would call “cryptographically relevant,” meaning they could break the algorithms we rely on today.

In the ordinary world, a skateboarder could be in only one location at a time. But if a skateboarder could behave like a quantum object (such as an atom), they could be in a “superposition,” effectively existing in two places at the same time. The same property could enable a bit of computer data to act as both a 0 and 1 at the same time, allowing calculations that would be difficult or impossible on a conventional computer.<br>Credit:

N. Hanacek/NIST

We also know it takes a long time to migrate to new encryption algorithms. Companies follow a yearslong process to adopt these algorithms into their products and services. So, if we wait until a quantum computer can crack the codes, there won’t be time to migrate technologies and digital services to the new algorithms before real damage can be done. And for some kinds of information, the risk begins well before a cryptographically relevant quantum computer...