Investment in quantum technology has been steadily ramping up over the past few years. It is about to reach unprecedented heights. IonQ, a startup also known for producing the first quantum computer made available through the cloud on Microsoft Azure and Amazon Braket, is about to become the first publicly traded quantum computing company, valued at $2 billion.
Quantum technology has captured the attention of forward-thinking leaders across all industries. Key IonQ investors include Fidelity Management & Research Company LLC, Hyundai Motor Company, Kia Corporation, Breakthrough Energy Ventures (investment firm led by Bill Gates), Lockheed Martin, and Amazon. Why is there such interest and investment in quantum technology today, and why should this matter to insurer IT leaders?
Widespread business process digitization and evolving business needs have turbocharged interest and investment in quantum technology.
Many companies, across all industries, are prioritizing business operation digitization and improving customer experience by leveraging cutting-edge technology solutions. Quantum technology solution providers have never had a better opportunity to drum up funding and resources for their initiatives.
Businesses face mounting pressure to solve problems faster; insurers stand to benefit from quantum speedups around stochastic risk modeling, CAT event modeling, and predictive loss modeling. It’s likely that the development of commercial quantum solutions for the financial services sector will continue to accelerate while the window for early adoption—and early business advantage—will narrow fast.
Threats to enterprise data security are mounting, and quantum security solutions are fast maturing.
The threat of retroactive decryption is on the rise. Bad actors harvesting encrypted data today may obtain access to quantum computing capabilities within the next decade. This would allow them to decrypt any harvested data secured via RSA or other similar public-key encryption methods. In response to recent hacks that compromised the security of multiple federal agency networks, the White House announced its intention to shift to using best-of-breed commercial cloud technology and take advantage of private-sector innovation in this area.
The federal government is leading the way towards more secure cloud environments, possibly even quantum-safe cloud environments, and much of the private sector may soon follow suit. Quantum security vendors are certainly well-positioned for this opportunity. Many quantum technology providers were already equipped for the abrupt switch to remote work in 2020; these providers experienced minimal business disruption and continued to research and develop quantum-safe solutions.
As I explored in my 2020 blog, ensuring that enterprise data and communications are quantum-safe is a time-consuming and complex but critical step for businesses to take as soon as possible. The quantum threat has implications on the security of all enterprise data. Protecting data in the cloud is one such insurer priority given the acceleration of cloud migration. It may not require the immediate purchase of a quantum security solution on the market today. Still, insurers seeking to secure their cloud environments should consider working with cloud vendors that prioritize crypto-agility (the ability to adopt new encryption methods, e.g., quantum-safe ones).
In 2019, I advised that quantum readiness is all about starting slow but getting ready to sprint. This month, the Wall Street Journal declared that we’re now living in the “Decade of Quantum Computing,” suggesting that quantum computers may be used on a far broader scale as soon as 2023. Given the volume of exciting quantum technology breakthroughs I’ve seen over just the past few months, it might just be time to start lacing up those sneakers.
Quantum-safe security solutions are already on the market, and cloud-native services for quantum risk modeling and quantum AI/ML will likely follow within the next decade. Insurer IT leaders may want to take note; the quantum advantage is right around the corner, and the time to prepare is now.
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