This past week at Infosecurity Europe 2025 (June 3–5 in London), the cybersecurity community delivered a stark warning: the quantum threat isn’t on the horizon—it’s here. As the conference’s theme—“Building a Safer Cyber World”—made clear, we're entering a new era where defending against quantum-powered attacks is an urgent priority.

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Quantum v. Cybersecurity: An Arms Race Highlighted

During a high-profile panel titled “Quantum Computing vs. Cybersecurity: The Next Arms Race,” experts clarified there’s no single “Q-Day,” but rather a persistent quantum threat arising now. Speakers warned of “harvest now, decrypt later” attacks, where adversaries can store encrypted data today—waiting until quantum computers evolve enough to crack it.

Main Takeaways for CISOs

• Demand vendor roadmaps now.
  According to a panel of security leaders, it's time to insist that vendors and partners provide clear PQC readiness plans. This shift is seen as necessary as “an orderly transition will cost less than emergency planning,” in the words of Lastwall's CEO Karl Holmqvist.

• Crypto agility isn’t optional.
  With just 5% of enterprises currently using quantum-safe encryption, the conference urged cryptographic reviews and agile migration strategies to minimize the hypervoliability of legacy systems.

Global Context and Policy Pressure

The UK’s NCSC, along with NIST in the US, has set clear timetables: commence PQC migrations by 2028, with full transition targeted by 2035. Infosecurity Europe echoed these mandates, prompting companies to prepare now or face substantial regulatory and operational fallout.

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Featured Solutions at the Expo

The expo’s booths showcased key quantum-safe innovations:

• AI-driven identity protection (Okta)

• Data resilience platforms (Rubrik)

• Zero-trust + PQC networking (Cloudflare, Cloudflare also announced NIST-backed PQC end-to-end support)

The demonstrated synergy between AI, zero-trust, and quantum-safe cryptography reflects a holistic defense strategy forming across the industry.

Why This Matters—Now

• Long-lifecycle data works as an open invitation for “banking now, decryption later” exploits.

• Sectors like finance, energy, healthcare, and telecom face heightened risk profiles and are already under pressure to prepare.

• A proactive move to quantum-safe systems today could be the difference between resilience and costly retrofits tomorrow.

What Organizations Should Do Today

1. Conduct a full cryptographic inventory to identify algorithms at risk.

2. Mandate PQC in vendor contracts and require concise vendor readiness roadmaps.

3. Pilot hybrid encryption implementations that pair classical and quantum-safe algorithms.

4. Invest in upskilling security teams to understand PQC standards (FIPS 203–205) and deployment.

5. Build cross-domain awareness, integrating AI, zero-trust, and PQC into future-proof defense frameworks.

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Conclusion

Infosecurity Europe 2025 marked a turning point: post-quantum cryptography moved definitively from “optional” to “essential.” The convergence of regulatory timelines, business risks, and technological advancements presents a clear imperative:

If your organization isn’t cryptographically agile today, it won’t be secure tomorrow.