Cybersecurity Bill Approved, Government Ramps Up Quantum Activity

Dan O’Shea / Fierce Electronics / 15 July 2022

QuSecure is proud to share the House of Representatives’ passage of the Quantum Computing Cybersecurity Preparedness Act (QCCPA), on which QuSecure advised. The passage of the QCCPA was the topic of a brilliant article from Fierce Electronics.

Key points of the article include:

• The QCCPA would require the Office of Management and Budget to prioritize migrations to post-quantum cryptography and provide yearly reports to Congress about the progress of migration efforts. The OMB would also have to produce a strategy on how to address the risks of quantum computing and calculate potential funding requirements.
• The QCCPA passed the House on July 13 with bipartisan approval and is now waiting for Senate approval. It is endorsed by Google, IBM, QuSecure, and a multitude of other quantum technology companies.
• The act is only part of a larger government strategy regarding quantum technology. Its passage comes days after NIST’s selection of post-quantum cryptography algorithms, and after the US Infrastructure and Security Agency announced the creation of a PQC initiative to respond to quantum threats. You can read more about NIST’s announcement here.

The act was passed because rapid development in quantum computing may pose a threat to the US government. The test implementation of QuProtect, QuSecure’s PQC solution, at a combined Air Force, Space Force, and NORAD base is an important step in defending against this threat. Pete Ford, QuSecure Head of Federal Operations, commented “This is extremely significant because the U.S. government has not employed a post-quantum communications channel on premises before.” You can read more about the first-ever government use of PQC here.

Read Fierce Electronics’ full article here.

Watch Representatives Nancy Mace and Ro Khanna present the bill to Congress.