For the next part of our analysis of the most commonly predicted trends for 2025, this time I’m looking at something that is something of a recurring trend - quantum.

The first time I really got wind of this being a future trend was at the start of 2020 whilst attending the DigiCert conference where it was in heavy discussion. This may have been because a couple of months earlier, Google claimed to have “Aced an 'Impossible' Test”, but after some new decade optimism, things seemed to go quiet.

However this past year, we did a fair few headlines on quantum, including: NIST’s release of quantum encryption algorithms and guidance, a the opening of a National Quantum Computing Centre, and banks agreeing to collaborate on quantum security. 

In fact, into the new year, there was a government announcement of a quantum clock, while Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang suggested that quantum computers are decades away from becoming a reality.

Halfway Point

With these in mind, and at the halfway point of the decade, it was interesting to see so much discussion of quantum amongst the contributions we received. Going back to DigiCert, in an email received from the company it said 2025 will be “a pivotal year when post-quantum cryptography (PQC) shifts from theoretical frameworks to real-world deployments.” It predicts that PQC adoption will surge, empowering industries to embrace quantum-resistant solutions.

In agreement was Kevin Bocek, chief innovation officer at Venafi, a CyberArk company, who predicts that quantum preparedness will become the top board-level cybersecurity topic.

“Boards are already peppering CISOs with questions about companies’ quantum preparedness and migration strategies,” he said. “Over the past year, significant advancements in quantum technology have already raised concerns about data security. As we approach the point where quantum computers could potentially break current encryption methods, it’s crucial for companies to develop their quantum readiness plans.”

Advancing Computing

Ravi Srivatsav, CEO of DataKrypto believes that quantum computing is advancing, and organisations worldwide are growing increasingly concerned about its potential impact on cybersecurity.

He said: “While experts estimate the post-quantum computing era is still five to 15 years away, forward-thinking companies are preparing for this inevitable future. Hackers also aren't waiting for the PQC era; they're harvesting data now, anticipating future decryption capabilities.”

Srivatsav recommended prioritising the use of advanced quantum-resistant cryptographic techniques, such as Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE) based on symmetric encryption.

“A significant amount of data is currently at risk due to encryption gaps during processing and transitions, when current encryption techniques require data to be decrypted,” he said. “By implementing optimized quantum-resistant encryption like FHE, companies can address these urgent vulnerabilities immediately while simultaneously positioning themselves for the post-quantum future.”

Complex and Costly

As we saw with the NIST guidance release, the capability is there and it is up to businesses to implement them. Richard Ford, CTO at Integrity360 said the transition “will be complex and costly” as encryption is deeply embedded in many software applications, making it difficult to swap out. 

He pointed out that under quantum, encrypted information will be able to be very quickly decrypted, which means that any data that has been stolen will immediately become accessible.

“Organisations will undoubtedly begin to panic over how they are going to deal with these issues, leading to a gold rush for vendors into 2026,” he said. “Businesses can avoid this by transition planning and preparing to adopt quantum-safe algorithms as identified by NIST which has thus far named three post-quantum encryption standards.”

Fred Rivain, CTO of Dashlane, agreed on the rapid adoption, saying that budgeting for these upgrades now will mitigate future financial strain, ensuring that organisations are prepared for the inevitable technological wave.

Cloud Providers

So what are the steps to be taken? Ravi Bindra, CISO of SoftwareOne said that while quantum computing sounds like a problem for the future, it needs to be a security concern, and cloud providers have a big role to play here.

“Over the next one to two years cloud providers must begin offering post-quantum services to customers in high-security industries, future-proofing data today that will be difficult to crack in five years’ time,” he said.

However this won’t be possible by cloud organisations alone, and to combat the rise in attackers using quantum computing to pose a threat themselves, we need to see greater collaboration between different industries across cloud and cyber, “as well as the involvement of government to share knowledge and deal with threats efficiently.”

One step forward, according to Bocek, is in understanding where machine identities—authentication keys and certificates that facilitate secure machine-to-machine communication—are being utilised. 

He called this the first step in PQC readiness that will lead to the ability to shift to new quantum resistant machine identities. “Larger organisations will have thousands, or even hundreds of thousands, of identities that need to be replaced with new quantum-proof identities,” he said.

At the moment, it seems that quantum is a victim of its own trend - lots of predictions on its capabilities, future use and which technologies will be needed to use and secure it. Will we see it in 2025? It is hard to say, but after a lot of talk, maybe this will be the year we see some more action.

Dan Raywood Senior Editor SC Media UK

Dan Raywood is a B2B journalist with more than 20 years of experience, including covering cybersecurity for the past 16 years. He has extensively covered topics from Advanced Persistent Threats and nation-state hackers to major data breaches and regulatory changes.

He has spoken at events including 44CON, Infosecurity Europe, RANT Conference, BSides Scotland, Steelcon and ESET Security Days.

Outside work, Dan enjoys supporting Tottenham Hotspur, managing mischievous cats, and sampling craft beers.