Summary
Scott Aaronson, inventor of BosonSampling and a new NAS member, is sounding a clear warning. In a PostQuantum piece titled “Scott Aaronson Sounds the Alarm: This Post Is Your Warning,” he relays that reputable quantum hardware experts now believe a cryptanalytic quantum computer could be possible by around 2029. If that proves right, Shor-class capability would land within a single enterprise planning horizon.
For CISOs and cyber leaders, the implication is direct. RSA and ECC become unsafe, the harvest now decrypt later threat escalates, and any data needing confidentiality for 7 to 10 years is already at risk. This is a strong nudge to accelerate adoption of NIST-selected PQC, build crypto agility, and start real-world testing of hybrid and PQC-only modes for TLS, VPN, code signing, and firmware.
Practical steps should not wait. Inventory cryptography across apps and suppliers, prioritize long-lived and regulated data, enable centralized key and certificate lifecycle control, and require quantum-safe roadmaps from vendors. Set a 2024 to 2029 migration plan with budget, governance, and red-teaming for PQC rollouts, while monitoring quantum milestones to recalibrate risk promptly.
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See the original article at: https://postquantum.com/security-pqc/aaronson-quantum-warning-nas/