Is post-quantum cryptography the next Y2K?

<p>Make no mistake — quantum computing is an existential threat to digital and data security. Quantum computing works by harnessing quantum mechanics to solve complex mathematical problems quickly — potentially breaking the public-key cryptography that protects our communications networks, financial systems and sensitive data in a matter of days or even hours.</p>
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<p>The silver lining? This threat of cryptographically relevant quantum supercomputers hasn’t materialized yet. We know it’s going to happen, we just don’t know when. Experts estimate it’ll happen between 2030 and 2050, with governments expecting <a href=”https://www.techtarget.com/searchsecurity/feature/How-CISOs-can-prepare-for-the-quantum-cybersecurity-threat”>quantum-safe migrations</a> to be completed by 2030.</p>
<p>As organizations begin to contemplate post-quantum cryptography (PQC), parallels to Y2K emerge. Both scenarios require preparing for a technological threat before it manifests. Yet we must ask: Is post-quantum cryptography truly the next Y2K, or does it represent a fundamentally different kind of challenge requiring a unique approach?</p>
<section class=”section main-article-chapter” data-menu-title=”The Y2K phenomenon: A brief refresher”>
<h2 class=”section-title”><i class=”icon” data-icon=”1″></i>The Y2K phenomenon: A brief refresher</h2>
<p>For younger IT professionals, Y2K might be ancient history. In the late 1990s, organizations worldwide scrambled to address the Millennium Bug, a simple but pervasive problem where systems using two-digit year formats — i.e., 99 for 1999 — would potentially fail when the calendar rolled to 00 (2000), which many systems might interpret as 1900.</p>
<p>The potential consequences were dire: banking systems failing, air traffic control disruptions, power grid collapses and more. Organizations spent billions globally on remediation efforts, updating code and systems to handle the date transition properly. IT asset management companies made small fortunes identifying which machines were or were not Y2K-ready. When January 1, 2000, arrived, very few major incidents oc

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