President Donald Trump on Monday signed an executive order to strengthen data protection in preparation for the arrival of practical quantum computing.
Executive Order 14409 highlights the threat posed by ‘harvest now, decrypt later’, in which threat actors exfiltrate encrypted data now, intending to crack the encryption later using quantum computers.
The private sector has been taking major steps toward post-quantum cryptography (PQC), including companies such as Google, Dell, and HP. And now the US government is also attempting to establish a clear roadmap and accelerate PQC migration.
The new EO tasks OMB, NIST, NSA, DHS, and CISA with working together to develop and oversee the implementation of comprehensive technical guidance to help federal agencies adopt PQC.
Agencies will have to inventory their high-value assets and high-impact systems and transition them to PQC for key establishment by December 31, 2030, and for digital signatures by December 31, 2031.
