city Bonn
date 27.11.2024

The development of large-scale fault tolerant quantum computers poses a growing threat for the security of Online-banking, smart home devices and messaging apps. Thus, the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) urges together with partners from 17 other EU member states public administration, critical infrastructure providers as well as industry to start the transition to post-quantum cryptography (PQC). For this purpose, measures were formulated to start the transition. The most imminent threat is posed by so-called "store now, decrypt later" attacks in which an adversary stores encrypted data now in order to decrypt it in the future when a powerful enough quantum computer becomes available. Therefore, the statement recommends that the most sensitive use-cases should be protected against these attacks as soon as possible, latest by the end of 2030.

BSI President Claudia Plattner: “Powerful quantum computers could offer huge potential in the future. At the same time, however, they also threaten the security of our entire digital infrastructure. That's why we need to act now and take protective measures.”

Leading experts estimate that quantum computer might be able to break currently used public-key-schemes (like RSA and ECC) in the 2030s, which is used in many common applications. Therefore, PQC should be considered an integral aspect of cyber security risk management of organizations and governments.

The joint statement was initiated by France, the Netherlands and Germany and presented during the European Cyber Security Meeting in Athens in September 2024.

Press contact:

Federal Office for Information Security - Press Office
Telephone Number: +49 (0)228-999582-5777
Email: presse@bsi.bund.de
Website: www.bsi.bund.de

X: @BSI_Bund
Mastodon: @bsi@social.bund.de