Payments rely on trust. Trust in the integrity of networks, the confidentiality of data, and the systems that keep money moving. That trust is now under pressure.
For more than three decades, digital payments from tap at the checkout to high-value cross-border settlements have depended on cryptographic and numerous other security protections. But quantum computing is shifting the risk landscape. The emerging capabilities that quantum computing delivers will eventually break the encryption mechanisms that supports the Financial Services and Payment systems today.
Regulators are increasingly treating “harvest-now, decrypt-later” as a credible risk that requires action, rather than a distant possibility. The concern is that adversaries may already be stockpiling encrypted data today, with the aim of decrypting it once quantum capabilities advance. If so, customer records, transaction logs, and compliance archives could be exposed long after the data was first collected.
This position paper outlines the threat and the need for industry readiness: the challenge is structural. The payment industry’s response to this emerging threat must be coordinated both within and across geographies to be effective.
