Preparing for Post-Quantum Cryptography: The Secure Firewall Roadmap

Nearly every piece of data that moves across your network and the internet at large is protected by encryption. Encryption works by using math problems that today’s computers simply can’t solve fast enough to crack. That’s about to change.

Quantum computers are a new kind of machine. Without delving into physics, what matters is this: the encryption that takes today’s supercomputers millions of years to break will soon be breakable within hours. Already today, it’s thought that attacker groups and nation-state actors are capturing and stockpiling encrypted data, awaiting the moment when It can all be unlocked. Sensitive data crossing your network right now (financial records, intellectual property, system credentials) can be captured today and exposed tomorrow.

The solution is a new class of encryption algorithms called post-quantum cryptography (PQC). PQC is built on different math problems that quantum computers can’t shortcut the way they…