The Trump administration wants to help the financial sector prepare for the day when quantum computers make it easy for threat actors to break traditional encryption and access sensitive data.
The Treasury Department on Monday launched a Quantum-Readiness Task Force that will work with financial firms, technology vendors and other agencies to coordinate the adoption of quantum-resistant encryption algorithms.
In a statement, the Treasury said the task force would “focus on practical, risk-based approaches to quantum readiness, including identifying critical dependencies, improving cryptographic agility, promoting interoperability, strengthening operational resilience, and addressing implementation challenges related to third-party dependencies and digital assets.”
The task force will operate through three workstreams focused on aligning financial firms behind the transition process, ensuring vendors’ readiness to use the new algorithms and evaluating quantum computing’s implications for cryptocurrency and emerging technologies.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology has approved several quantum-resistant algorithms for various uses through a standardization program that began in 2016. The U.S. government is now racing to spread awareness of those algorithms so organizations begin adopting them before the advent of quantum computers powerful enough to break encryption. Cryptography experts are not sure when that will happen, but popular time frames range from five to 10 years.
“Quantum computing holds significant promise, but it also presents a serious long-term challenge to the cryptographic tools that underpin the U.S. financial system,” Luke Pettit, Treasury’s assistant secretary for financial institutions, said in a statement.
In June, President Donald Trump signed an executive order that set tighter deadlines for agencies to adopt post-quantum cryptography and set a process in motion to require contractors to do the same.
Western allies have been marshaling support for a global cryptographic transition effort. In January, the G7 Cyber Expert Group published a road map to guide those activities.
