IoT in a post-quantum world: coming sooner than you think

The benefits of quantum computing come from the order-of-magnitude increase in computational power compared to conventional computers. This enables a range of use cases from predictive analytics to pharmaceutical simulations. However, there are also risks, primarily related to security vulnerabilities. Overall, we estimate around 8% of IoT devices currently in active use are quantum safe. This equates to 1.8 billion of the 24 billion IoT devices in total. Conversely, over 90% (i.e. nearly all) of IoT devices are exposed.

The reality is that most of the IoT world is not prepared for quantum-based security attacks and lacks post-quantum cryptography (PQC) algorithms, implying a large gap to be closed. In many ways this is to be expected. Many of the IoT devices deployed as of today have been designed with low power requirements and therefore do not require the silicon processing speed that smartphones or other higher-grade computing devices have. Regardless of their power requirements, security algorithms have generally used standardised conventional cryptography rather than more recently designed PQC. IoT device manufacturers and their buyers have designed devices based on conventional cryptography. However, there is a need to change and adapt to preempt quantum-computing capabilities.