quantum computing industry

Cloudflare announced on Tuesday that it plans to issue quantum-proof TLS certificates, positioning itself among the first certificate authorities to use cryptography widely believed to withstand attacks from quantum computers. The move anticipates a future in which quantum machines could break today's encryption, and it puts the web infrastructure company ahead of much of the industry in securing internet traffic against that threat.

Researchers have proposed a new definition for scalable logical qubits, the error-corrected building blocks needed for practical quantum computers. A clearer standard for what counts as a scalable logical qubit could help labs and companies measure progress toward fault-tolerant machines and compare results across different quantum computing platforms.

Charles Black is leading research at the Co-design Center for Quantum Advantage (C2QA) focused on building scalable quantum computing systems. The effort is part of a US national quantum initiative aimed at overcoming hardware barriers that currently limit the size and reliability of quantum computers. Further details of the research's findings and timeline have not been disclosed.

The NSA is highlighting that today's cryptographic solutions offer limited protection compared with new quantum-resistant algorithms, which are being developed to withstand attacks from future quantum computers. The message underscores ongoing efforts to migrate government and industry systems to post-quantum encryption before quantum capabilities mature.