The Spanish entity Funditec has warned of the "risks" associated with the arrival of the post-quantum era and, at the same time, has urged companies to take measures to protect themselves against these new threats.
In the workshop "How to prepare for the post-quantum era. Risks and roadmap for companies," held within the framework of the Madrid Connect event and led by Funditec's research director, Gonzalo Álvarez-Marañón, it was detailed how quantum computers will compromise corporate digital security.
During his presentation, Álvarez-Marañón presented a roadmap and an action schedule so that organizations can guarantee their continuity and preserve the confidentiality of the information they handle.
COULD LEAD TO IMPERSONATION OF COMPANIES AND PEOPLE
The doctor in Computer Science warned that quantum computers can "break the cryptography that today, for the time being, protects communications, electronic signatures, and digital identities." Access to that type of sensitive data could result in "impersonation of companies, people or even emptying cryptocurrency wallets within minutes."
In the session, the need to act quickly was emphasized through inventories of the information to which cryptography is applied, prioritizing confidential data for the coming years and adopting the new post-quantum standards that have already been validated.
Álvarez-Marañón recalled that the European Union requires that critical systems be adequately protected before 2030 and stressed that "cybersecurity goes beyond the IT department and must be understood as business continuity under the responsibility of management."
DATA EXPOSURE
"Companies that wait for the implementation of quantum computers will see their data exposed, perhaps already captured, and will have to migrate in a hurry, with higher costs and errors," he said, specifying that a quantum computer with sufficient power could, within hours or days, render obsolete the security on which the public-key cryptography used in services such as online banking, email, VPNs, or Whatsapp messages is based.
For her part, Dulce Muñoz, PhD in Chemistry and director of research sciences at Funditec, has participated in the panel "Future Factories: Beyond materials, the new bioindustrial revolution, biofabrication, biomaterials and new value chains for Europe", where she has focused on industrial transformation linked to biofabrication and its capacity to reduce dependence on fossil resources. In her view, "raw materials continue to be extracted, manufactured, consumed and generating waste".
"We have improved the efficiency of the process a lot, but we have not always redesigned the system," she said. In this line, she explained that the generalization of bio-based materials coming from agricultural, forestry or agri-food waste, recycled or recyclable, will make it possible to produce more efficiently and sustainably and will trigger "a new industrial revolution", by integrating from the outset principles of circularity, safety and sustainability.
Muñoz has argued that the introduction of these new materials into future factories will contribute to "reducing Europe's vulnerability in geopolitical crises". She warned that "if Europe does not evolve towards these sustainable materials and industrial production settles elsewhere, we will lose the essence of value, employment and capacity to make decisions", stressing that "the scientific foundation is one of the great strengths; but the main weakness lies in scaling".
To conclude, the researcher called for "more private industrial investment and greater capacity to convert scientific results into factories and companies that grow from Spain".