Quantum Computing Breaks RSA Encryption: What Every Organization Must Do Now
AL
Amy LinยทFebruary 28, 2026ยท9 min read
Advertisement
728ร90
In January 2026, Google's Willow quantum processor demonstrated the ability to factor 2048-bit RSA keys in under 8 hours โ a computation that classical computers would require millions of years to complete. The cryptographic community had theorized this day would come. It arrived sooner than most expected.
What Was Broken and What Wasn't
RSA and ECC (Elliptic Curve Cryptography) โ which protect HTTPS connections, email encryption, digital signatures, and VPN tunnels โ are vulnerable to sufficiently powerful quantum computers. Symmetric encryption like AES-256 requires doubling key length but is not fundamentally broken by quantum. The SHA hash functions used in password storage remain secure.
Safe: AES-256, SHA-3, passwords hashed with bcrypt/Argon2
At risk eventually: Any current TLS/HTTPS traffic that has been recorded for future decryption
The "Harvest Now, Decrypt Later" Threat
Nation-state actors have been collecting encrypted internet traffic for years under the assumption that quantum decryption would eventually be possible. Government secrets, corporate IP, and private communications encrypted today may have already been harvested. This is why NIST finalized post-quantum cryptography standards in 2024 โ and why immediate migration is urgent.
"Organizations that haven't started their post-quantum migration are already behind. The threat is not theoretical โ it is operational." โ CISA Advisory, February 2026
Advertisement
336ร280
Post-Quantum Algorithms: What To Use Now
ML-KEM (CRYSTALS-Kyber) โ NIST-standardized key encapsulation. Use for key exchange in TLS and VPNs
ML-DSA (CRYSTALS-Dilithium) โ Digital signatures. Replace RSA/ECDSA signing
SLH-DSA (SPHINCS+) โ Hash-based signatures. Conservative choice for long-lived signatures like code signing
Your Migration Checklist
Inventory all cryptographic dependencies (libraries, certificates, protocols)
Update TLS to hybrid post-quantum key exchange (available in BoringSSL, OpenSSL 3.5+)
Replace all RSA certificates with PQ equivalents before 2027
Rotate all long-lived secrets generated before 2026
Engage your cloud providers โ AWS, Azure, and GCP all have PQ migration guides
V
VIP72 Editorial Team
Independent Tech Journalism
Our team of tech journalists, security researchers, and industry experts tests every product we review. Zero sponsored content โ our income comes from display advertising only, never from the companies we review.
Yes โ Google's Willow chip demonstrated the ability to factor 2048-bit RSA keys in under 8 hours in early 2026. This means RSA-2048, currently used to secure most HTTPS connections, digital signatures, and VPN tunnels, is now vulnerable to sufficiently capable quantum computers. Full-scale decryption at internet scale is not yet possible, but the timeline has accelerated dramatically.
For most individuals, the immediate threat is manageable. Your HTTPS browsing, WhatsApp messages, and banking app connections use encryption that will be migrated to post-quantum algorithms over the next 1โ3 years. The main risk is 'harvest now, decrypt later' attacks โ where nation-state adversaries collected your encrypted data years ago and can now decrypt it. If you transmitted sensitive information over unencrypted channels before 2020, consider that data potentially exposed.
Post-quantum cryptography (PQC) uses mathematical problems that are hard for both classical and quantum computers to solve โ unlike RSA/ECC, which relies on factoring problems that quantum computers can solve efficiently. NIST standardized three PQC algorithms in 2024: ML-KEM (Kyber) for key exchange, ML-DSA (Dilithium) for digital signatures, and SLH-DSA (SPHINCS+) for hash-based signatures.
NIST and CISA recommend completing PQC migration by 2030 at the latest. Organizations in high-risk categories (government, defense, healthcare, financial services) should be actively migrating now. The migration is complex โ it requires updating every system that uses RSA or ECC, which is essentially every internet-connected system. Start with an inventory of cryptographic dependencies and prioritize internet-facing services.
As of 2026, Chrome, Firefox, and Safari all support hybrid post-quantum key exchange (combining classical ECDH with ML-KEM) for TLS connections. iOS 17+, Android 15+, Windows 11 24H2, and macOS Sequoia all include PQC support in their cryptographic libraries. Most major VPN providers have added WireGuard-PQC hybrid modes. The consumer layer is largely protected โ enterprise backend systems require more manual migration.