Urgent Call for NIST-Approved Post-Quantum Encryption

Crypto security researcher Gianluca Di Bella warns that advances in quantum computing pose an immediate threat to current encryption and zero-knowledge proofs. He highlights “collect now, decrypt later” attacks, where adversaries harvest encrypted data today and decrypt it once quantum hardware matures. Di Bella urges the industry to migrate now to NIST-approved post-quantum encryption standards—ML-KEM, ML-DSA and SLH-DSA—to ensure long-term data security. Practical deployment remains slow due to Rust-based development complexity, limited investment and a niche talent pool. He adds that post-quantum zero-knowledge proof protocols like PLONK are still untested in production. He warns major tech firms could achieve quantum breakthroughs within 10–15 years, and authoritarian regimes may exploit hidden quantum decryption capabilities. Immediate adoption of post-quantum encryption is vital to safeguard sensitive data and preserve crypto integrity against future quantum threats.