If 2024 was the year of quantum acceleration, it’s likely that 2025 will quickly become the year of adoption. That may be why this week, Microsoft launched their new Quantum Ready program, with a significant push towards understanding the real-world impact of quantum computing.
While Microsoft’s strategy is much broader than just quantum resilience, it’s interesting to note that security forms part of the plan. Back in 2023, the tech giant published ‘Building a quantum-safe future‘ as well as the establishment of the Microsoft Quantum Safe Program – highlighting the need for business leaders and organizations to plan for, and assess the impact. It’s encouraging to see them building on the strategy with a specific push for awareness, adoption, and collaboration.
“We see the effort to achieve quantum safety as a collaborative effort,” write Microsoft, “And this is why we invest heavily in our ecosystems, global partnerships, and close collaborations with standards-setting bodies, academia, and industry partners to foster continuous innovation in the quantum security landscape. The standardization of PQC algorithms, driven by NIST’s efforts, is a key step to achieving PQC compliance.”
At PQShield, we’re equally focused on the importance of the collaborative effort. In fact, we’ve co-authored the NIST standardized PQC algorithms and we work with global organizations to help update the world with the latest quantum-resilient technology.
Initiatives such as the Microsoft Quantum Ready program are key reminders that we are already in the age of quantum computing, particularly with the threat of ‘harvest-now-decrypt-later’ – whether accessing the incredible potential of quantum, or focusing on deploying the essential cryptography that helps keep our data safe in the new era.