2022 Billington Cybersecurity Summit
Takeaways from an Important Discussion about the Future of Encryption
By Duncan Jones
In September, nearly 200 senior cybersecurity leaders from around the world convened to discuss the state of U.S. cybersecurity at the. Topics around cybersecurity were varied and included discussions about moral asymmetry of today’s global threat actors, lessons learned from Ukraine and general discussions around all things that “keep us up at night” concerning cyber threats.
As a speaker at the Summit, I wanted to take a moment to share my take-aways from an important discussion that took place during our breakout session, “Future of Encryption: Moving to a Quantum Resistant World.” My esteemed fellow panelists from NSA, NIST, CMU and AWS exchanged insights as to where U.S. government agencies stand in their preparation for current and future threats to encryption, the likely hurdles they face, and the resources that exist to assist in the transition. Those responsible for moving their agency to a quantum-resistant world should find the following insights worth considering.
Getting Out of The Starting Gate
With the prospect of powerful quantum computers breaking known encryption methods on the horizon and with federal mandate now in place, the good news is that quantum-proof encryption is finally being discussed. The not-so-good-news is that it isn’t clear to cybersecurity practitioners what they need to do first. Understanding the threat is not nearly as difficult as understanding the timing, which seems to have left agency personnel at the starting gate of a planning process fraught with challenges – and urgency.
Why is the timeline so difficult to establish? Because there is no way of knowing when a quantum-based attack will take place. The Quantum-safe Security Working Group of the Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) chose the date, April 14, 2030, to represent “Y2Q,” also known as “Q-Day” – the moment secure IT infrastructure becomes vulnerable to the threat of a fault-tolerant quantum computer running Shor’s algorithm. The Biden Administration based its implementation timeline on the day that NIST announced the four winning algorithms for standardization. Then there is the “hack now, decrypt later” timeline which suggests that quantum-related attacks may already be underway.
Regardless of the final timeline or potential drivers, one thing that was clear to the panel attendees was that they need to start the transition now.
The Need to ‘Future-Proof’
I get this question often and was not disappointed when one attendee asked, “How can I convince my agency leadership that migrating to quantum-proof encryption is a priority when they are still trying to tackle basic cyber threats?”
The panelists responded and agreed that the U.S. government’s data storage requirements are unique in that classification dates are typically 20 years. This means that systems in development today, that are typically fielded over the next 10 years, will actually have a storage shelf life of 30 years minimum. Those systems need to be “future-proofed” today, a term that should be effective when trying to convince agency leaders of the priority.
The need to future-proof is driven by a variety of scenarios, such as equipment and software upgrades. In general, it takes a long time (and perhaps even longer for government entities) to upgrade or change equipment, software, etc. It will take an extremely long time to update all of the software that has cryptography in place.
The panelists also agreed that given the extensive supply chain supporting federal systems, vendors are a critical component to the overall success of an agency’s future-proofing for the quantum age. In 10-15 years, there will be some government partner/vendor somewhere who will not have transitioned to quantum-proof encryption. For leaders who have not yet prioritized their agency’s cryptography migration, let them ponder that thought — and start to focus on the need to prepare.
Déjà Vu or Lessons Learned?
The panel shared several past technology migrations that were similar in their minds to the adoption of quantum computing.
Y2K was similar to the looming quantum threat by both the urgency and scale of the government’s need to migrate systems. However, without a deadline assigned to implementing the encryption migration, Y2K is really only similar in scale.
The panelists also recalled when every company had to hash function, but concluded that the amount of time, effort, and energy required to replace current encryption will be way more important than SHA-1 — and way more ubiquitous.
While previous technology migrations help to establish lessons learned for the government’s quantum-proof cryptography migration, the panel concluded that this go-round will have a very unique set of challenges — the likes of which organizations have never had to tackle before.
Where to Start
The consensus among panelists was that agencies need to first understand what data they have today and how vulnerable it is to attack. Data that is particularly sensitive, and vulnerable to the “hack-now, decrypt-later” attacks, should be prioritized above less sensitive data. For some organizations, this is a very challenging endeavor that they’ve never embarked upon before. Now is an opportune time to build inventory data and keep it up to date. From a planning and migration perspective, this is an agency’s chance to do it once and do it well.
It is important to assume from the start that the vast majority of organizations will need to migrate multiple times. Panelists emphasized the need for “crypto agility” that will enable future replacement of algorithms to be made easily. Crypto agility is about how easy it is to transition from one algorithm (or choice of parameters) to another. Organizations that prioritize long-term thinking should already be looking at this.
The panelists added that communicating with vendors early on in the planning process is vital. As one panelist explained, “A lot of our service providers, vendors, etc. will be flipping switches for us, but a lot won’t. Understanding what your priorities are for flipping the switch and communicating it to your vendors is important.”
Help Is on Its Way
Matt Scholl of NIST shared about the is doing to provide guidance, tips, and to answer questions such as what are discovery tools and how do I budget? The project, announced in July 2022, is working to develop white papers, playbooks, demonstrations, tools that can help other organizations implement their conversions to post-quantum cryptography. Other resources that offer good guidance, according to Scholl, include recent , DHS’and the .
One additional resource that has been extremely helpful for our CISO customers is ĢƵ’s The guide outlines what CISOs from any organization should be doing now and provides a basic transition roadmap to follow.
Conclusion
The discussion wrapped up with the acknowledgement that quantum has finally become part of the mainstream cybersecurity discussion and that the future benefit of quantum computing far outweighs the challenges of transitioning to new cryptography. As a parting thought, I emphasized the wonderful opportunity that agencies have to rethink how they do things and encouraged attendees to secure management commitment and funding for this much-needed modernization.
I want to give a special thanks to my fellow panelists for the engaging discussion: Margaret Salter, Director, Applied Cryptography, AWS, Dr. Mark Sherman, Director, Cybersecurity Foundations, CMU, Matthew Scholl, Chief of the Computer Security Division, ITL, NIST, and Dr. Adrian Stanger, Cybersecurity Directorate Senior Cryptographic Authority NSA.
About ĢƵ
ĢƵ, the world’s largest integrated quantum company, pioneers powerful quantum computers and advanced software solutions. ĢƵ’s technology drives breakthroughs in materials discovery, cybersecurity, and next-gen quantum AI. With over 500 employees, including 370+ scientists and engineers, ĢƵ leads the quantum computing revolution across continents.
ĢƵ and GE Vernova’s Advanced Research Center are launching a collaboration to apply quantum computing to one of the research community’s most consequential challenges: understanding the behavior behind high-temperature superconductivity. Advances in this field could, over the long term, transform the energy sector by enabling lighter generators, more compact and powerful motors, and electricity infrastructure that carries more power and better withstands faults.
The research will focus on Fermi–Hubbard modeling, a framework for studying how interacting electrons give rise to complex material properties. By combining ĢƵ’s full-stack quantum computing capabilities—including access to the company’s Helios computer—with GE Vernova’s expertise in material science and engineering simulation applied to industrial applications, the collaboration will bring an industry perspective to a promising area of quantum research.
Why superconductors matter for energy
As energy systems grow, the size, weight, and performance of electrical equipment become increasingly important constraints. High-temperature superconductors offer potential ways to address those limits through their ability to carry large electrical currents without resistance under suitable operating conditions.
Potential applications span power generation, electricity grids, and industrial electrification. Superconducting generators could reduce the weight and footprint of industrial equipment. Superconducting windings could also help make utility generators and industrial or marine propulsion motors more compact and efficient. In electricity networks, superconducting cables could carry more power through constrained spaces, while fault current limiters could help protect equipment during short circuits.
Realizing those benefits more widely depends on overcoming challenges in cooling, material performance, manufacturing, and cost. Better understanding of the physics behind high-temperature superconductivity could help inform the search for materials with more practical operating characteristics.
Why quantum computing may offer new tools for understanding high-temperature superconductivity
High-temperature superconductivity involves the collective behavior of strongly interacting electrons. Accurately modeling these systems is exceptionally difficult: the interactions that make them scientifically interesting also make important aspects of their behavior computationally challenging.
The Fermi–Hubbard model captures essential features of those interactions in a simplified mathematical framework. Although it is not a complete description of a material used in industrial applications, it provides a foundation for investigating mechanisms associated with high-temperature superconductivity.
Quantum computing offers a promising way to explore the physics. ĢƵ researchers have already measured superconducting pairing correlations—including s-wave and d-wave pairing—in Fermi–Hubbard models simulated on the Helios quantum computer. These results demonstrate the ability to prepare and probe quantum states relevant to superconductivity research, establishing a foundation for further investigation.
The collaboration with GE Vernova will build on that foundation, bringing industrial expertise to the selection and interpretation of research questions.
Connecting quantum capabilities with industrial expertise
The research will be enabled through access to ĢƵ’s full-stack capabilities, including cloud-based access to Helios, the world’s most accurate quantum computer1, and Nexus, ĢƵ’s developer platform. Nexus connects quantum hardware with the software tools researchers need to develop and run applications in a unified environment.
GE Vernova’s Advanced Research Center brings the expertise in material science, engineering, and industrial applications to the research and development activity.
“High-temperature superconductors could help us overcome important limits on the size, weight, and efficiency of electrical equipment, but understanding and improving these materials remains a significant scientific challenge,” said Jonathan Owens, PhD, Senior Scientist, Computational Materials Physics at GE Vernova. “By combining our materials simulation and industrial expertise with ĢƵ’s quantum computing capabilities, we can explore new approaches to these difficult problems while building the expertise to assess where quantum computing can make a meaningful contribution.”
The collaboration also extends GE Vernova’s exploration of quantum computing into a new area of materials research while supporting the development of its internal quantum talent. Its previous includes investigations of quantum algorithms for carbon-capture materials using simulated quantum processors.
Building toward industrial value
Translating insights from simplified models into practical materials requires sustained scientific and engineering work. Industrial expertise helps connect that effort to the properties, operating conditions, and manufacturing considerations that ultimately determine a material’s usefulness.
For ĢƵ, this collaboration is an opportunity to advance quantum simulation with an industrial collaborator that understands both the potential applications and the barriers to adoption. It brings together demonstrated computing capabilities, a challenging materials problem, and the expertise needed to connect scientific progress with industrial requirements.
The research collaboration aims to deepen understanding of this field and explore how quantum computing may contribute to future energy technologies.
1 Based on two-qubit gate fidelity as of December 31, 2025.
From Oracle's Quantum AI Compute beta program to upcoming Helios installation milestones and Oracle AI World, our partnership continues to gain momentum.
When ĢƵ and Oracle announced a strategic partnership earlier this year, the goal was not simply to deploy a quantum computer in the cloud. It was to create a practical path for bringing quantum computing into the enterprise environments where AI, data, and high-performance computing (HPC) already come together.
By combining Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI)'s AI, data, and cloud capabilities with Helios, ĢƵ's most advanced quantum computer, we're helping lay the foundation for hybrid quantum AI computing at enterprise scale. The partnership reflects our belief that some of the most valuable future applications will emerge when quantum computing, AI and classical HPC work together to tackle problems that remain difficult to solve today.
Oracle Opens Early Access for Quantum AI Compute
That vision is now being put into practice. This month, Oracle launched the , giving select organizations an opportunity to begin evaluating how quantum computing fits into existing workflows and computational challenges.
Through the program, approved participants will gain cloud-based access to Helios, the world's most accurate commercial quantum computer, alongside OCI's GPU and HPC infrastructure. For organizations exploring quantum computing, this creates a practical starting point: access to industry-leading hardware within an enterprise cloud environment, without the need to build specialized infrastructure of their own.
The goal is to help organizations understand where hybrid quantum AI workflows may create value across areas such as drug discovery, materials science, energy, financial modeling, and optimization.
For many organizations, the starting point is not quantum technology itself. It's a business or research problem. Where are today's approaches reaching meaningful limits? Which workloads consume disproportionate resources? And where could a new computational capability create an advantage?
Organizations interested in participating can apply through Oracle's OCI Preview Programs . Oracle will review applications and select participants based on eligibility, capacity and program requirements.
ĢƵ and Oracle Leadership Takes the Stage at Oracle AI World
The opportunity for hybrid quantum-AI computing will be a major topic at .
In a main stage session, "," Larry Stack, Chief Commercial Officer at ĢƵ, will join Mahesh Thiagarajan, Executive Vice President and Head of Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, to discuss how quantum computing, AI and classical HPC can work together to address some of the world's most computationally demanding challenges.
The discussion will focus on a core question many organizations are asking: where should they start? Rather than leading with technology, the conversation will explore how organizations can identify high-value problems, establish today's performance baseline, and evaluate where quantum computing ultimately provides an advantage.
Later in the day, ĢƵ and Oracle experts will at how bringing Helios into OCI provides managed access to quantum computing natively within an enterprise cloud environment to support hybrid quantum-AI workflows.
Building Momentum Toward Hybrid Quantum-AI Computing
The collaboration between ĢƵ and Oracle continues to progress from vision to execution.
With Helios advancing toward installation, Oracle's Quantum AI Compute program now open for early access, and enterprise interest growing around hybrid computing, the pieces are coming together. Organizations now have a practical way to begin exploring quantum computing through cloud-based access to Helios alongside AI, HPC, and existing enterprise workflows.
We look forward to continuing the conversation at Oracle AI World 2026 and working with customers who want to better understand where hybrid quantum-AI computing can create real-world value.
We're excited to continue that conversation at Oracle AI World 2026 and to help customers begin exploring what's possible through the OCI Quantum AI Compute Beta Program.
By: David Hayes, Sr. Director of Computational Design and Integrated Software
Two recent announcements from ĢƵ and Google mark important progress toward fault-tolerant quantum computing.
Because both announcements focus on reducing errors, it may be tempting to compare the numbers directly. But these results are not the same. They measure different parts of the fault-tolerance challenge and answer fundamentally different technical questions.
This week, we a world-record error-correction result, using our error-correction architecture on Helios to deliver a logical fidelity of 99.9995%, equivalent to just five errors per million operations and representing a 100x reduction in errors compared to the best published result across any other modality—reported by .
Last week, Google a 99.99% magic-state fidelity result using a new cultivation technique, citing a 40x reduction in errors.
As fault-tolerant quantum computing matures, understanding what is being measured becomes just as important as understanding the headline number itself. Google's work measured the fidelity of a resource used in certain fault-tolerant operations. Our work measured the fidelity of the logical computation that consumes those resources.
Across the published results, ĢƵ demonstrates state-of-the-art performance in fault-tolerance, combining record logical computational fidelity with substantial advantages in resource efficiency. Understanding starts with examining what each study measured, what it achieved, and the resources it required.
ĢƵ's World-Record Result: Measuring the Accuracy of a Logical Computation
This week’s result measured how accurately an error-corrected logical quantum system can execute a computation.
To achieve the result, we used a well-known “color code” within our error-correction architecture. The error rate is 10 times lower than ĢƵ’s own world record achieved last month and 100 times lower than the best published result across all other hardware modalities—the 2024 Google result.
The study also demonstrated that logical errors fell exponentially as code distance increased. Code distance is a key measure of how quantum information can be protected as an error-correction system scales.
Each increase tested in the study reduced the remaining logical error rate by a record factor of 12, demonstrating exponentially effective error suppression as the code grows, a critical capability for scalable fault-tolerant quantum computing.
Together, these results demonstrate how ĢƵ's highly accurate trapped-ion hardware and flexible logical architecture can drive rapid gains in computational accuracy. They also show that fault-tolerant performance can be achieved with substantially fewer physical qubits than competing modalities.
The result places ĢƵ within the target logical-performance range required for Apollo, our planned universal fault-tolerant quantum computer targeted for 2029.
Google's Result: Advancing Magic-State Preparation
Google's latest paper focused on a different aspect of fault tolerance: the preparation of high-fidelity magic states.
Magic states are an important resource required for certain operations in a fault-tolerant quantum computer. Generating them efficiently is widely recognized as one of the key engineering challenges facing large-scale fault-tolerant systems, particularly for certain modalities.
Google's work introduced a new approach known as cultivation, designed to improve the fidelity of magic-state preparation while reducing the resources required to produce those states. The study demonstrated a magic-state fidelity of 99.99% using a protocol that retained approximately 8% of attempts while discarding the remainder. This post-selection process was a key contributor to the reported 40x reduction in error rate.
The study did not measure the fidelity of a larger logical computation that incorporates those magic states into an end-to-end algorithm. Instead, it focused specifically on the creation and refinement of the resource itself.
That distinction is important because preparing a high-fidelity resource and demonstrating the performance of a logical computation are different milestones on the path to fault tolerance.
Directly Comparing ĢƵ and Google’s Magic-State Results
ĢƵ's latest logical computation result should not be compared directly with Google's latest magic-state result. It should be compared against the distance scaling result published by Google in 2024.
That said, we have published studies measuring an analogous magic-state capability examined in Google’s latest work.
, we achieved 99.993% magic-state fidelity with an 85% retention rate, compared with the 99.99% fidelity and approximately 8% retention reported in Google’s latest work. Our result also required fewer physical qubits and fewer operational steps, resulting in significantly lower space-time overhead.
That combination of smaller qubit and operational steps footprint, along with substantially higher retention means fewer resources are consumed preparing each usable magic state.
As fault-tolerant systems scale, those efficiency advantages become increasingly important because they directly affect the amount of hardware required to perform useful computations.
The Bigger Picture
Taken together, these results establish ĢƵ’s leadership in demonstrated fault-tolerant performance: record logical computation fidelity, alongside a directly comparable magic-state result that achieves higher fidelity with substantially lower resource overhead.
That combination—computational accuracy and the efficiency with which it is achieved—is critical to delivering reliable answers to useful problems at a practical scale.
Ultimately, customers do not buy two-qubit gate fidelities or magic states. They buy answers.
Forward-Looking Statements
This blog post contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These include statements about our technology roadmap, our expected logical performance, and the planned timing and capabilities of future systems, including Apollo. Words such as "target," "expect," "plan," and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements. These statements are based on our current expectations and involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially. Those risks include challenges in developing, manufacturing, and scaling our quantum computing systems. For a discussion of these and other risks, see the "Risk Factors" section of our most recent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q and our other filings with the SEC, available at ir.quantinuum.com. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this post, and we undertake no obligation to update them except as required by law.