AI Academy

“Q-Day” refers to the moment when quantum computers become powerful enough to break today’s widely used cryptographic algorithms — including RSA, ECC, and many protocols that secure global banking, payments, digital identity, and the internet itself.

While we are not at Q-Day yet, experts agree on one thing:

The transition to quantum-resistant cryptography must begin now, not later.

For banks, regulators, and critical infrastructure operators, the governance challenge is as large as the technology challenge. Preparing for Q-Day isn’t just a cybersecurity upgrade, it’s a systemic, multi-year transformation that requires crypto-agile policy, proactive governance, and enterprise-wide readiness.

1. Why Q-Day Matters Now: Understanding the Risk

Quantum computers threaten current encryption through algorithms like Shor’s and Grover’s, which can:

✔ Break RSA-2048 in hours or days

✔ Compromise Elliptic Curve Cryptography

✔ Weaken hash-based security

✔ Render entire PKI infrastructures obsolete

This is not a hypothetical risk, adversaries are already conducting “harvest now, decrypt later” attacks, collecting encrypted data today with the expectation that future quantum computers will decrypt it.

This is especially dangerous for:

• Customer PII
• Transaction histories
• Payment keys
• Credit systems
• SWIFT messages
• Cross-border KYC/KYB
• Government and defence communications

The governance implication?

Everything you secure today must remain secure for the next 20–30 years, including operational archives.

2. Governance Challenges of Post-Quantum Migration

Migrating to quantum-safe cryptography is not a simple swap of algorithms. It impacts the entire organisation:

1. Policies and Standards Must Be Updated

All policies referencing cryptographic controls (ISO 27001, NIST, SOC2, MAS TRM, internal KMS policies) must be modernised.

2. Legacy Systems Are the Hardest to Upgrade

Old mainframes, COBOL banking systems, payment gateways, and embedded systems often cannot support new crypto primitives without major redesign.

3. Third-Party Risk Becomes Critical

If your vendors remain on classical crypto, your ecosystem is still vulnerable.

4. Global Fragmentation of Standards

Multiple bodies are publishing PQC (Post-Quantum Cryptography) standards, and organisations must navigate differences:

• NIST PQC algorithms
• ETSI Quantum-Safe standards
• ISO/IEC 18033 updates
• MAS TRM 2025 revisions
• EU Cyber Resilience Act

5. Long Migration Cycles

Banks take 5–10 years to fully migrate encryption at rest, in transit, and across all PKI. Meaning: We are already late.

3. Crypto-Agility: The Only Sustainable Strategy

The solution is not to pick the perfect quantum-resistant algorithm. The solution is to design an architecture that can evolve.

Crypto-Agility is the ability to:

• Swap algorithms without rewriting applications
• Rotate keys dynamically
• Enforce policy at scale across cloud, on-prem, and edge
• Support hybrid classical + quantum algorithms
• Perform real-time cryptographic inventorying
• Maintain backward compatibility during long transitions

Crypto-agility shifts governance from static controls to adaptive posture management.

4. Key Components of a Crypto-Agile Governance Framework

1. Cryptographic Inventory & Exposure Mapping

You can’t protect what you can’t see.

Organisations must map:

• All algorithms in use (RSA, ECC, AES, SHA variants)
• Key lengths
• Certificate locations
• API dependencies
• Vendor encryption libraries
• Data sensitivity levels

This becomes the basis for prioritising quantum risk.

2. Risk-Based Migration Roadmap

Not all systems require immediate upgrade. Governance should classify systems into:

• Tier 1: High-value, long-lived, regulated data
• Tier 2: Medium risk, shorter data lifespan
• Tier 3: Low-value or transient data

Then apply phased PQC migration accordingly.

3. Hybrid Cryptography Policies

During the transition, hybrid encryption (classical + quantum-safe) ensures safety even if PQC algorithms evolve.

Policies should mandate hybrid mode for:

• Authentication
• Key exchange
• TLS
• VPNs
• Internal service mesh traffic

4. Vendor & Third-Party Quantum Risk Management

Governance must require vendors to:

• Declare quantum readiness
• Support PQC algorithms
• Provide migration timelines
• Use hardware security modules (HSMs) that support PQC
• Provide attestation of quantum-safe controls

5. Crypto-Aware SDLC & DevSecOps

Quantum safety must be integrated into:

• Design reviews
• Code scanning
• API security
• CI/CD pipelines
• Automated dependency checking

Policy-as-Code should enforce:

• No usage of deprecated crypto
• PQC-compliant libraries
• Automated certificate/key rotation

6. Organisational Resilience & Testing

Governance teams must require:

• PQC penetration testing
• Crypto stress tests
• Quantum attack tabletop exercises
• Zero-trust architectures enhanced for quantum threats

5. The Banking Perspective: Why Q-Day Hits Finance First

Banks have the largest high-value datasets, longest retention requirements, and most complex legacy systems.

Quantum impact will be felt most acutely in:

✔ Payments (ISO 20022, SWIFT CSP)

✔ Core Banking

✔ Wealth & Private Banking systems

✔ Credit Scoring and CRM

✔ Cloud and Sovereign Cloud deployments

✔ Cross-border remittances

✔ Regulatory submissions & reporting

A governance blueprint for banking must include:

• MAS TRM and FEAT alignment
• ISO 42001 integration
• PQC KMS and HSM upgrade roadmap
• KCI (Key Control Indicators) across business units
• PQC for multi-agent AI systems (future agents must use quantum-safe keys)

Quantum computing will not arrive instantly, but the risk is cumulative. Every day without crypto-agility increases the amount of data that will become decryptable once Q-Day arrives.

Preparing isn’t optional. It is a strategic, regulatory, and operational imperative.