JAKARTA — post-quantum cryptography is no longer a niche security term; it is now the frontline defense as global cybersecurity faces an old sci-fi fear made real by quantum computers paired with artificial intelligence. A report cited from Danviet.vn portrays the race as already underway, not as a warning for some far-off future. The stakes are huge. Not just corporate data. Government documents, logistics systems, financial transactions, and military communications all lean on encryption that has long been treated as dependable. Why global cybersecurity suddenly feels urgent The core problem is simple, even if the fallout is not. Quantum machines calculate in ways normal computers do not. At a certain point, that advantage could strip modern asymmetric encryption algorithms, including RSA-2048, of their strength. For years, digital security has rested on a basic assumption: breaking an encryption key should take an absurdly long time. Very long. The report says the combination of generative AI and quantum technology could shrink a process that once took billions of years into just a few seconds. If that scenario comes true, data vaults that look safe today could turn into open archives. All at once. That is why defense officials and cyber experts are speaking in much sharper terms than usual. Pentagon officials have even called quantum computing an “existential threat” to national security in a 25-page report discussed by the source. The phrase sounds extreme, but the message is plain: old defenses will not be enough. The most dangerous tactic: harvest now, decrypt later What worries analysts most is not the moment commercial quantum computers finally reach the market. The threat already in motion comes from a tactic known as “harvest now, decrypt later.” It works quietly. Suspected state-backed hackers collect as much encrypted data as possible today. Petabytes are pulled from government