The Government Technology Insider Podcast · Government Technology Insider

Quantum Computing Drives a Pressing Need for Federal Agencies to Re-Evaluate Cyber Defenses

·21 min·1 clip

Jim Westdorp says quantum computers could break today's public key infrastructure within 5 to 10 years.

Quantum-resistant encryption has moved out of the someday pile and into standards-driven planning. Matt Langan opens with a federal technology problem shaped by NIST standardization of post-quantum cryptographic algorithms and work beyond classical encryption. From there, the question gets practical fast. Agencies have to find where encryption actually lives: public key infrastructure, protocol stacks, primary applications, embedded applications, and unsupported software. Legacy exposure matters. One guest notes that dedicated cryptographic systems with pre-shared keys may be less susceptible, while public key infrastructure touches much of the encryption used today outside specialized environments. Inventory comes before migration. Agencies need to know which algorithms are running, where they are embedded, and how protocol-stack upgrades will land when they arrive. Unsupported applications are the awkward part. Some larger systems may need replacement because they cannot absorb the newer encryption protocols needed for a quantum-resistant posture. Lamont Copeland brings the issue back to cyber risk profiling. The work starts with understanding the full environment, especially now that data moves across offices, facilities, military bases, agencies, mobile users, and global networks. Readiness means preparing the whole environment, not one clean slice of it. The episode treats quantum-safe migration as modernization across applications, networks, critical infrastructure, professional services, and security-related risk assessment. Verizon and Sienna Government Solutions appear through their roles in helping agencies move toward quantum-safe architecture. The timing point is simple: federal teams do not need to wait for a finished quantum crisis before mapping dependencies, planning upgrades, and finding unsupported systems that will slow cryptographic change.

As heard by us

Quantum readiness is treated as a modernization and inventory problem before it is anything else.

This episode treats quantum-resistant encryption as a real readiness issue for federal agencies, not a future thought experiment. Lamont Copeland and Jim Westdorp focus on where public key infrastructure, embedded applications, and older protocol stacks still depend on…

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You want a sober map of where quantum-resistant upgrades are touching federal agency systems now.

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