Why Quantum Computing Could Break the Internet’s Security — And What Comes Next

London, 15 September 2026 — EBM Newsdesk Analysis — Rob Davis

For most people, quantum computing remains an abstract idea involving strange physics and machines that supposedly do things ordinary computers cannot. Underneath that science-fiction framing sits a specific, dated, already-in-progress problem: the encryption protecting online banking, cloud services, government databases and digital payments relies on mathematical problems considered too hard for conventional computers to solve within any useful timeframe. A sufficiently powerful quantum computer could use Shor’s algorithm to solve those same problems in a fraction of the time, making RSA and elliptic-curve encryption — the standards underpinning most of the internet’s trust infrastructure — obsolete.

That computer doesn’t exist yet. Estimates for when one might vary considerably — some analysts put a capable “cryptographically relevant quantum computer” ten to fifteen years out, others closer to 2035 — but the uncertainty in the date is precisely why the response can’t wait for it.

Join The European Business Briefing

New subscribers this quarter are entered into a draw to win a Rolex Submariner. Join 40,000+ founders, investors and executives who read EBM every day.