Why is the timeline to quantum-proof everything constantly shrinking? When Google announced last month it was moving up its own internal timeline for migrating to quantum-resistant forms of encryption, it started a broader conversation in the cybersecurity and cryptography communities: Just what was pushing one of the largest tech companies in the world to significantly accelerate its adoption of post-quantum protections for its systems, devices and data? In the weeks since, new research has lended weight to those claims. A joint research paper from the California Institute of Technology, its tech startup Oratomic and the University of California concluded that technological advancements in neutral atom arrays indicate a quantum computer capable of breaking classical encryption may require as few as 10,000 quantum bits (or qubits), not millions as previously thought. Qian Xu, a CalTech researcher and coauthor of the paper, said the findings are significant and indicates that such a computer could potentially be operational by the end of the decade. “For decades, qubit count has been viewed as the main obstacle to fault-tolerant quantum computing,” Xu said in a statement. “I hope our work helps shift that perspective.” Google’s Quantum AI division released its own research paper around the same time, outlining a twenty-fold decrease in the number of physical qubits believed to be needed to break some of the most popular forms of 256-bit elliptic curve encryption algorithms used to currently protect cryptocurrencies. “We note that while viable solutions like [post-quantum cryptography] exist, they will take time to implement, bringing increasing urgency to act,” wrote Ryan Babbush, director of research and Hartmut Neven, vice president of engineering at Google. Google’s decision to accelerate its shift to post-quantum encryption reflects a growing consensus. Over the past year, CyberScoop has heard similar concerns from tech and government officials, typically centered