A Guide to Mastering Data Security in a Post-Quantum World

Imagine this: Five years from now, a powerful quantum computer finally cracks through the encryption protecting decades of medical records, trade secrets or national security data.

For organizations whose information was scooped up and stored by attackers today, the breach doesn’t feel futuristic. It feels like a time bomb going off.

Security researchers call this scenario “harvest now, decrypt later,” and it’s one of the clearest reasons businesses are rethinking how they protect data in a post-quantum world.

This guide is designed to answer the questions people ask first: What exactly changes when quantum computers arrive? How soon should I act? And what practical steps will actually make my data safer?

From there, we’ll dig deeper into why post-quantum cryptography (PQC) matters, how to build crypto-agility, and what roadblocks to expect along the way.

Let’s start with the “why,” because understanding the threat is the first step to neutralizing it.

Why the Post-Quantum World Matters for Data Security

Think of modern encryption as a combination lock with millions of possible codes. For decades, those codes have been safe because cracking them would take centuries of computing power. But quantum computing is like giving an adversary a skeleton key that makes those combinations solvable almost instantly.

That changes everything. Algorithms like RSA, ECC, and Diffie-Hellman, which secure everything from credit card payments to government secrets, could be broken by sufficiently powerful quantum machines.

And “harvest now, decrypt later” is the kicker: attackers don’t need a quantum computer today to create problems tomorrow. All of this is to say that organizations that don’t start preparing now put themselves at serious risk of catastrophe in the relatively near future.

What Is PQC, and Why Should You Care?

If quantum computing is the rainstorm, then post-quantum cryptography (PQC) is the umbrella. PQC algorithms are designed to withstand both classical and quantum attacks. They rely on math problems that remain stubbornly hard even for quantum computers, with lattice-based cryptography being one example.

Organizations like the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) are leading global efforts to standardize these algorithms, with candidates including CRYSTALS-Kyber and Dilithium.

So, why should this matter to you? Because once standards are finalized, regulators and industry bodies will move quickly to enforce adoption.

Analysts are already sounding alarms: Gartner predicts that more than half of enterprises will face mandates to replace existing cryptography by 2029 [source]. That’s not far off when you consider how long major IT transitions usually take.

To put it in perspective, COVID-19 began more than five years ago, but the memory remains crystal clear. And 2029 is less than five years away.

Building a Stronger Foundation for the Post-Quantum World

There are three primary steps to consider preparing your organization for the looming threat.

Step 1: Discover where cryptography lives. The simple truth that most security professionals understand is that you can’t protect what you can’t see. Yet many organizations don’t have a clear inventory of where encryption is used across their systems. From APIs and mobile apps to IoT devices and legacy databases, cryptography tends to sprawl.

Without that visibility, you can’t prioritize or plan. Discovery is the foundation of post-quantum readiness.

Step 2: Assess the real risks. Not all data should be created equally. Some information, like a credit card transaction, loses value quickly. Other data, like healthcare records or trade secrets, could remain sensitive for decades. This is the kind of information you need to protect first.

When assessing risks, ask:

• How sensitive is this data?
• How long will it remain valuable?
• What’s the regulatory or compliance impact if it’s exposed?

The answers to these questions will help create a roadmap for action. It’s not about boiling the ocean; it’s about tackling the highest-impact areas first.

Step 3: Build crypto-agility into your systems. Here’s the hard part: PQC isn’t a “set it and forget it” proposition. Algorithms will evolve, standards will shift, and new vulnerabilities will surface. The organizations that fare best will be the ones with crypto-agility, or the ability to swap algorithms without rewriting entire systems.

Think of it as future-proofing your infrastructure. Instead of hardcoding today’s cryptography into your applications, build flexibility so you can adapt when new standards arrive.

The Challenges of Post-Quantum Cryptography

Transitioning to PQC is a massive lift. But it’s not just about replacing one algorithm with another. It’s about changing the way organizations think about security at scale.

A few hurdles to expect include:

• Sheer volume: Cryptography touches nearly every system, often in invisible ways.
• Performance concerns: Some PQC algorithms will demand more computing power.
• Integration: Updating your hardware, firmware, and cloud environments will time and a team-wide effort.
• Knowledge: Many IT teams lack the expertise of cryptographers, meaning many will have to hire new talent or train existing staff members..

All of this is why visibility and agility are so vital. If you don’t have full visibility and agility, PQC adoption becomes slow, fragmented, and expensive.

Fortanix is uniquely positioned to solve this problem because it’s the only vendor that combines cryptographic assessment and remediation in one platform. Fortanix Key Insight discovers and assesses your cryptographic landscape, while Data Security Manager (DSM) enables policy-driven remediation and crypto-agile transitions to PQC at scale.

Future-Proofing Data Security Can (and Should) Start Today

The post-quantum world won’t wait for you to be ready. Data is already being harvested with the intent to decrypt it later. In the face of this reality, mastering data security in this new era means:

• Discovering where cryptography is used in your environment
• Assessing risks based on data sensitivity and longevity
• Building crypto-agility into your architecture
• Tracking developments in PQC standards so you’re ready to adapt

Organizations that start today will have a smoother, more cost-effective transition, as well as a far better chance of keeping their most valuable information safe.

Ready to see how this works in practice? Request a demo and start preparing for the post-quantum era today.