Cloudflare ‘actively adjusting’ quantum priorities in wake of Google warning

Google’s accelerated post-quantum encryption deadline has spurred other leaders in the industry, including Cloudflare, to consider pushing forward their own plans. The US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has set a 2030 deadline for depreciating legacy encryption algorithms ahead of their planned retirement in 2035. Late last month Google brought forward its own post-quantum cryptography (PQC) deadline a year to 2029 because advances in quantum computers mean that legacy encryption and digital signature systems are at greater risk sooner than previously anticipated. Google is readying its products and services for PQC by adding support to its Chrome browser , Android mobile operating system, and cloud-based services . Algorithmic breakthrough Bas Westerbaan, principal research engineer at Cloudflare, and an expert in post quantum encryption, told CSO that Google’s decision to pull forward its PQC migration timeline to 2029 is a “very big deal.” “We are starting to see some details of the three breakthroughs that scared Google, but crucial elements are being withheld due to their perceived risk as an aid for adversaries,” says Westerbaan. “Google even went to the effort to publish a state-of-the-art zero-knowledge proof to demonstrate they indeed made an algorithmic breakthrough without spilling the beans.” Cloudflare is “actively adjusting” its priorities and “will share outcomes soon,” Westerbaan explains. Preparations for the migration to PQC by Cloudflare are already well advanced. More than half the traffic on Cloudflare is already secure against the threat of harvest-now/decrypt-later using ML-KEM (Module-Lattice-Based Key-Encapsulation Mechanism, a PQC standard ratified in 2024) as browsers roll out support. To protect browser connections against active attack, Cloudflare is planning to deploy post-quantum certificates in 2027. Quantum threat The existing public key cryptographic systems that protect Internet and mobile transactions, Rivest-Shamir-Adelman (RSA) and Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC), are aging cryptosystems, developed in the 1970s and 1980s, respectively. Sufficiently powerful quantum computers pose a threat to legacy cryptographic standards, and specifically to encryption and digital signatures, because they have the capacity to break the mathematical foundations of legacy algorithms. For example, newer and faster algorithms have already been developed, such as the JVG algorithm, that require less quantum computational power (qubits) to factor large prime numbers, on which some legacy cryptosystems such as RSA are based. Google argues that advances in quantum computing, including hardware development, quantum error correction, and quantum factoring resource estimates, are bringing forward the time legacy cryptographic algorithms will become vulnerable to quantum computing, a phenomenon known as Q-Day. “Google’s accelerated 2029 deadline reflects a shift from trying to predict Q-day to managing pre-Q-day risk,” says Mark Pecen, chair of technical committee on quantum technologies at the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI). “The real concern isn’t when quantum computers arrive; it’s that adversaries are already collecting encrypted data today to decrypt later.” Data with long-term sensitivity, legal records, intellectual property, medical research, and critical infrastructure communications are most at risk. “By moving earlier than government timelines, Google is effectively forcing the industry to treat post-quantum migration as an immediate operational priority rather than a future compliance exercise,” says Pecen. Matt Campagna, chair of the quantum-safe cryptography working group at ETSI, adds: “Businesses must develop their own PQC migration strategies and actively engage with vendors and suppliers to ensure alignment.” Michael Klieman, global vice president for project management at Entrust, says that doubts about how close the industry is to a cryptographically relevant quantum computing breakthrough are creating uncertainty. “Today, there’s no universal way to measure performance across quantum systems, which makes it difficult to separate incremental progress from meaningful milestones toward Q-Day,” according to Klieman. “What the industry needs next are clear, standardized benchmarks for scale, error correction, and algorithmic performance — so organizations can understand where we are on the path to quantum risk, not just where vendors say we are,” Klieman adds. Catalyst Daryl Flack, partner at UK-based managed security service provider Avella Security, argues Google’s accelerated roadmap is likely to act as a catalyst across the industry. Google’s accelerated roadmap has the potential to disrupt a cycle of inaction driven by misaligned incentives: vendors waiting for customer demand, and organizations waiting for regulation, according to Flack. “Google’s decision to accelerate its post-quantum cryptography (PQC) migration to 2029 is a clear signal that the industry is moving from theoretical timelines to operational urgency,” Flack says. “While existing UK and EU roadmaps provide direction, they do not compel action, and that distinction is now becoming a material cybersecurity risk.” Preparations — and in some cases even awareness — about the need to migrate to PQC is lagging amongst many enterprises. “Many enterprises lack visibility into where cryptography is used, have not identified their most sensitive long-lived data, and do not yet have crypto-agility built into their systems,” Flack warns. “Without addressing these fundamentals, any accelerated timeline, whether driven by regulators or vendors, will be difficult to meet.” Enterprise CISOs should take ownership of PQC readiness . “Preparation should start with a structured approach: creating crypto inventories and catalogs, mapping cryptographic dependencies, identifying high-risk systems, and embedding crypto-agility into transformation programmes,” Flack advises. “Just as importantly, organizations must extend this thinking into their supply chains.”