Leonie Mueck, formerly the chief product officer of Riverlane, a Cambridge-based quantum startup, said Google’s statement did not necessarily suggest there would definitely be a working quantum computer capable of breaking encryption by 2029.
In fact, most timelines for a cryptographically relevant quantum computer – that is, one powerful enough to break encryption – range from the 2030s to the 2050s. But Mueck said the prospect was close enough that governments were already preparing for the eventuality that data stored to today’s encryption standards would be exposed when the technology sufficiently advances.
“We’re basically seeing in the intelligence community already that for probably more than a decade they’ve been thinking about this threat,” Mueck said.
Last year the UK’s cybersecurity agency, the National Cyber Security Centre, urged organisations to guard their systems against quantum hackers by 2035.
Google’s timeline suggests engineering teams across the technology industry should consider measures to protect sensitive data by migrating to more advanced encryption systems now. Certain kinds of attacks predicated on the future availability of quantum decryption – “store now, decrypt later” – may currently be being deployed across the field.
Continuing from OP’s snippet: