GCISO Urges New Zealand Agencies To Invest In Post-quantum Computing By 2030

New Zealand government agencies are being urged to invest in post-quantum computing (PQC) solutions before 2030, as the arrival of a fully error-corrected quantum computer threatens to unravel current encryption methods. This push follows recognition of a growing practice described as “harvest now, decrypt later,” or HNDL, where encrypted data is collected for future decryption.

“Anything you send now might not be secure in five years,” warns Professor David Hutchinson of Otago University, who advises the OECD on quantum computing. Virtually all current security protocols, from internet communications to banking PINs, rely on factorization of prime numbers, a system vulnerable to future quantum attacks.

HNDL Attacks and the Threat to Current Encryption

This tactic, recognized internationally and recently detailed in a US Federal Reserve paper, involves collecting data now with the intention of exploiting quantum computing power to unlock it when available. Hutchinson said that current internet security protocols, banking systems, and information kept safe within government largely depend on a security protocol based on the factorization of prime numbers, which is used whenever we share information, whether through the internet or when entering a PIN at a bank machine. The OECD highlighted HNDL attacks last year as justification for immediate action, noting that transitioning to quantum-resistant cryptography could take up to 20 years given the scale of systems involved.