You.com launches ARI, a cutting-edge AI research agent that processes over 400 sources in minutesrevolutionizing market research and empowering faster, more accurate business decision-making.Read More

Amazon Web Services has unveiled its Ocelot chip based on a hardware-efficient quantum computing architecture.Read More

Madbox opens new studio in Annecy, FranceMobile developer intends to increase its workforce by 15% in 2025, with half working at the new locationImage credit: Madbox News by Sophie McEvoy Staff Writer Published on Feb. 27, 2025 Mobile developer Madbox has opened a new studio in Annecy, France.As reported by Pocket Gamer, the studio opened in January 2025 in co-working space Les Papeteries Image Factory.Led by game lead Arthur Michel, the leadership team for its Annecy studio consists of game manager Hugues Barlet and senior game developer Clment Auvray.The developer aims to increase its 100 employee workforce by 15% in 2025, with half working at the new location."The main rationale behind choosing Annecy is that we believe the best teams make the best games, and we strive to assemble the best gamers with a unique chemistry," said Madbox CEO and co-founder Maxime Demeure."At Madbox, we had the perfect team for this, and they desired a unique space in a beautiful and creative city. We decided to take the risk and do something new by creating a new place for a great team we believe in."This led us to open the Annecy studio. It's a bet on a team, which is exactly what Madbox has been about since its creation."Madbox was founded in 2018, and has studios in Paris and Barcelona. The developer raised $16.5 million in a Series A funding round in 2019 which resulted in the opening of its Spanish location.

South Korean studio Dynamis One has been raided by local law enforcement after being accused of illegally exporting development materials owned by Nexon.As reported by local news outlet ChosunBiz, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency's Industrial Technology Security Investigation Team raided the studio's headquarters on February 24, 2025.It's claimed officers have secured evidence that indicates Dynamis One illegally obtained key development materials relating to a Nexon project codenamed 'MX Blade' with the intention of using that information to develop future titles.Dynamis One was established by a cohort of former Nexon Games employees in 2024. Studio CEO Park Byeong-rim previously oversaw development of Nexon's free-to-play RPG, Blue Archive.Nexon has accused Byeong-rim of violating the Unfair Competition Prevention Act and claims a number of Dynamis One developers leaked key information about MX Blade during their tenure at the company.Dynamis One unveiled its debut game, Project KV, last year but quickly halted production following a controversy over purported similarities with Blue Archive.In a statement obtained by ChosunBiz, Nexon described the incident as a "serious crime that undermines the foundations of the game development environment."The MapleStory and Dave The Diver developer pledged to cooperate with law enforcement throughout their investigation. It also outlined plans to bolster internal security systems to avoid a repeat incident.Police now reportedly intend to focus on determining whether the leaked data was actively utilized by Dynamis One's development team.Nexon was previously involved in a similar incident. Back in 2021, the company accused Ironmace founder (and former employee) Ju-Hyun Choi of using leaked source code to develop a title called Dark and Darker.Nexon filed a lawsuit against the company in 2021 alleging copyright and trade secret infringement. Earlier this month, the Seoul Central District Court (Division 63) cleared Ironmace of copyright infringement but ordered the studio to pay 8.5 billion won ($5.87 million) in damages to Nexon for trade secret infringement.

Chris Kerr, News EditorFebruary 27, 20253 Min ReadImage via Don't NodAfter months of tense negotiations and strike action, French union STJV has cut a deal with Lost Records: Bloom & Rage developer Don't Nod to mitigate the impact of a reorganization project that could have resulted in 69 layoffs.Don't Nod announced the plan in October 2024 and claimed it needed to scale down operations after failing to meet its financial targets. Studio leadership said it needed to cut costs to "safeguard its competitiveness in an increasingly demanding and competitive ecosystem."STJV hit back immediately and claimed leadership intended to make workers pay for their "crass ineptitude." The union subsequently called for walkouts and strikes while it attempted to negotiate with management, who it accused of stifling its efforts by refusing to move beyond the "bare legal minimum.""Negotiations between STJV and Don't Nod management about the layoffs plan are not conducive to any serious promise to employees. Despite huge efforts from the union delegates to reach a deal, management's offers remain insignificant," read an STJV statement published in January.The tide appears to have turned, however, with STJV now explaining it was able to "wring out" a deal thanks to the efforts of colleagues who were determined to fight for their rights.It explained the new deal has "widened the scope for voluntary redundancies" and could save up to 23 jobs by allowing more people to consider accepting a voluntary severance packageas opposed to a select few being forced out of the door."The ability to request a voluntary redundancy will be open to more professional categories, some of which are not targeted for jobs cuts. This could save up to 23 jobs, by letting those who wish to leave go even if they were not intended to, avoiding in return a forced job cut," reads a statement."Whats more, the number of jobs being cut has been reduced from 69 to 49, since there were numerous resignations since management announced the PSE, and thanks also to adjustments to managements plan following some of the CSE's (workers council) observations when it was informed."STJV claims anybody who does lose their job will also receive "less indignant terms" in the form of extra-legal compensation paid by Don't Nod. The deal also ensures that anybody who chose to strike between January 13 and January 17 will be paid for those days.The union previously established a strike fund to compensate employees who joined the picket line. That cash will now be used to compensate workers who went on strike in November and December last year. Any remaining funds will be transferred to the STJV's national strike fund."We want to thank and congratulate our colleagues for their part in this historic and successful mobilization. Their support and their solidarity were outstanding," continued the STJV. "This victory would not have been reached without the titanic work of the CSE (that was elected under the STJV's banner) and the Don't Nod STJV union section, over four months."And crucially, we send warm thanks to all of those who supported us and who filled the coffers of the strike fund. Collective action gets results, it is our best weapon. Of course, this PSE leaves a bitter taste, and the struggle will continue for both our remaining colleagues' working conditions as well as for the uncertain future that those who will be laid off will have to face."It is not, and it will never be satisfactory to see people be fired. We hope that this struggle will be a stepping stone on which to weigh and from which to start, if any company out there did not get the memo. Hurrah to strikers, and hurrah to strikes."Game Developer has reached out to Don't Nod for comment.Read more about:LaborTop StoriesAbout the AuthorChris KerrNews Editor, GameDeveloper.comGame Developer news editor Chris Kerr is an award-winning journalist and reporter with over a decade of experience in the game industry. His byline has appeared in notable print and digital publications including Edge, Stuff, Wireframe, International Business Times, andPocketGamer.biz. Throughout his career, Chris has covered major industry events including GDC, PAX Australia, Gamescom, Paris Games Week, and Develop Brighton. He has featured on the judging panel at The Develop Star Awards on multiple occasions and appeared on BBC Radio 5 Live to discuss breaking news.See more from Chris KerrDaily news, dev blogs, and stories from Game Developer straight to your inboxStay UpdatedYou May Also Like

Xiaomi has announced its 15 Ultra flagship phone at a launch event in China, where its going on sale starting at 6,499 yuan (around $893). The Android phone joins the companys Xiaomi 15 and 15 Pro, which went on sale there in October 2024. It is a mostly iterative upgrade on last years model, but the big change is the addition of a 200-megapixel periscope camera that the company says excels in low light. The 15 series, including the Ultra, is getting an international launch this Sunday, March 2nd, at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Exactly which markets it will go on sale in remains to be seen, but its a safe bet that this one wont be coming to the US.Xiaomis Ultra line has always been camera-centric, even more so than Samsung or Apples top models, and the 15 Ultra is no different. Like last years 14 Ultra, the quad rear camera is arrayed in an enormous circular module on the phones rear. Its designed to resemble photography partner Leicas dedicated camera hardware, right down to the two-tone silver and black finish, and compact Ultra corner logo found on one of the phones three versions. There are also simpler black or white models.Most of the exciting stuff is on the rear, but heres a look at the display anyway. Image: XiaomiThe 200-megapixel 4.3x periscopic lens follows similar periscopes in Vivos X100 Ultra and X200 Pro, and Honors Magic 7 Pro. This is a shorter zoom than the 5x periscope on the 14 Ultra, but uses a larger sensor, faster aperture, and higher resolution, which Xiaomi says results in better light capture, bringing improvements in zoom photography, especially in lower light. Xiaomi even codenamed the phone Night God internally, so low light photography is clearly a focus this year.The other three rear sensors are all 50-megapixel, and are set up similarly to last years model, albeit with small variations. The most noteworthy change is to the main camera, which has dropped the variable aperture tech featured on the previous model in favor of a fixed but fast f/1.63.Thats a whole lot of camera. Image: XiaomiThe photography focus is enhanced by the release of Xiaomis third-generation Photography Kit, an optional extra that includes a case and a camera grip. Beyond a new red finish, not much has changed here either: the internal battery is a little larger at 2,000mAh (allowing this to double as a small power bank for the phone), and theres a new thumb rest, but the core camera controls remain the same: a shutter button, video button, zoom lever, and exposure dial.The camera kit really does make the phone look like a digital camera. Image: XiaomiBeyond the inevitable upgrade to the current-generation Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset, there are few other upgrades or design changes. The 6.73-inch display is again 1-120Hz but a little brighter at 3,200 nits peak HDR brightness. An IP68 rating returns, too. The 6,000mAh battery is significantly larger, but the 90W wired charging and 80W wireless speeds are unchanged. As with other recent Android flagships, theres still no sign of Qi2 adoption.I thought the 14 Ultra was last years best phone camera by some distance, and my colleague Allison called it a photography nerds dream, so Xiaomi has set itself a high bar to live up to. This was such a strong camera, its understandable that the company has kept changes to a minimum this time around. But were looking forward to finding out whether its one big upgrade, the periscope, will deliver.See More:

It was a career highlight that blew people away, wrote Today. Her big moment jolted awake and stunned audiences, enthused the LA Times. And it was an emotional career revelation, as per The Independent.Such were the heaps of praise showered onto Demi Moorealbeit not for her genuinely amazing career highlight in Coralie Fargeats The Substance. The performance itself was indeed a stunning tour de force where Moore personified the pressures felt by millions of women, be they entertainment legends or otherwise. In the film, Moores Elisabeth Sparkle is a former Oscar winner and movie star reduced to destroying her body in order to look youngquite literally after she expels Margaret Qualley out of her flesh in a scene that would make David Cronenberg proud. Its a scenario that also has more than a passing resemblance to Moores own career and life, which she conveys with a ferocity that rings unmistakably, and painfully, true.As terrific as Moore is in The Substance, though, those above lines of praise were not for her sterling work in the satirical body horror; it was for her victory speech after a surprise win at the Golden Globes.Yep. Before the Globes, in their typically unpredictable manner, awarded Moore Best Actress in a musical or comedy (and The Substance is quite funny at times, in a decidedly gallows fashion), some wondered whether Moore would even be nominated for Best Actress by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. This was no slight against Moore. Its just that the Academy doesnt typically nominate performances in horror movies. If you dont believe us, ask Lupita Nyongo after she was snubbed for Us in 2020, or Toni Collette after she also got the cold shoulder the year before that. And a case can be made that Collette gave one of the best performances of the 2010s in Hereditary.When it comes to the Academy, there is a built-in antipathy toward genre storytelling in general, and horror in particular, which goes back generations. But after that Globes speech catapulted Moore to the forefront of the Academy and medias attention, there might be an opening to change the notion of what an Oscar movie is.The Horror Movies Nominated for Major Above-the-Line OscarsPrior to The Substance receiving its well-deserved Best Picture and Best Director nominations this year, there were only six previous horror films nominated in either category. And believe it or not, they are not the same six movies.To date, the other horror films nominated for Best Picture remain William Friedkins The Exorcist (1973), Steven Spielbergs Jaws (1975), Jonathan Demmes The Silence of the Lambs (1991), M. Night Shyamalans The Sixth Sense (1999), Darren Aronofskys Black Swan, and Jordan Peeles Get Out (2017). Of those Spielberg still infamously received a Best Director snub in early 76 (which he had the misfortune of recording for posterity). Prior to any of them, Alfred Hitchcock was grudgingly nominated in the helmer category for his paradigm-shifting effect on the medium via Psycho (1960).Sixty-five years ago, the Academy reluctantly admitted it could not ignore the historic achievement of a film like Psycho, even if they were able to hold their noses tight enough to snub the game-changer for Best Picture in favor of such unremarkable fare as Elmer Gantry, Sons and Lovers, and John Waynes horrendously bloated The Alamo. (To be fair: also The Apartment, which probably deserved its Best Picture win!)The point is since the Academys inception, the horror genre has been seen as the gutter of Hollywood cinema. This goes even back to its earliest days with actors like Lon Chaney Sr. wowed audiences as the Man of a Thousand Faces in genre pictures that included the chiller The Phantom of the Opera (1925) and London After Midnight (1927). Universal Pictures built its legacy on the Monsters, but its first Oscar for Best Picture came not from Frankenstein or Dracula, but the 1930 version of All Quiet on the Western Front.And that was the early days. After horror in the 1940s and especially the 50s became synonymous with B-movies and drive-in programmers, the genre remained on the fringe of prestigious cinema, even when the likes of Roman Polanski made something as transcendent as Rosemarys Baby in 1968a film that won Ruth Gordon an Oscar for a supporting, largely comedic performance. Otherwise, the film went ignored.There have been checkered acting nominations throughout the Academys history, as well, and even the rarest of wins, a la Kathy Bates for a performance that again walks the line between scary and funny in Rob Reiners Misery (1990), but by and large horror has been kept at bay.Join our mailing listGet the best of Den of Geek delivered right to your inbox!What Even Is an Oscar Movie These Days?Yet its fair to wonder if the tide is turning. Beginning in the mid-2010s, the Academy and Hollywood community at-large has been undergoing a kind of reckoning. It started with the #OscarsSoWhite social media discourse of 2015, but it has expanded into a generational and cultural upheaval that has changed the composite of the 10,000 or so members that make up the Academy. In a bid to not only become more racially diverse but also demographically and generationally representative, hundreds of the Academys membership was culled by age. If you were a member who hadnt worked in decades on a film or TV show (and had never previously won an Oscar), you lost the ability to vote. Meanwhile hundreds of younger and non-American filmmakers within the industry were invited infolks who have less hang ups about genre.After all, The Substance is directed by a French woman, and European institutions like the Cannes Film Festival show little qualms about awarding their most prestigious baubles to odd genre swings. See Julia Ducournaus Palme dOr winner Titane for more. Or just check in with Fargeat who won Cannes Best Screenplay award for The Substance.Beyond horror, in the last decade, weve seen Academy tastes likewise shift. Black Panther became the first superhero movie nominated for Best Picture, and even a year before that, the less culturally affluent Logan became the first cape movie nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay. Psychological thriller/allegory Parasite became the first film not in the English language to win Best Picture in 2020 (it helped it was a masterpiece), and the Daniels genre-bending sci-fi/martial arts/dramedy epic, Everything Everywhere All at Once, took home the same top prize, as well as Best Director and a slew of other awards in 2023.The Academys tastes are slowly but surely getting younger, hipper, and generally less burdened by the prejudices of their parents or grandparents. Or: the Academy membership is slowly tilting toward Gen-X and especially now older Millennials, the latter of whom were coming of age during the rise of so-called elevated horror cinema. (A condescending way to acknowledge the horror genre had a renaissance in quality beginning in the early 2010s.)If Demi Moore wins a deserved Oscar for her turn in The Substance, it might partially be because of a poignant and honest speech about how even at the height of career in the early 1990s, she could be insulted and negged by men in the industry who dismissed her as a popcorn actress.But it will also be because the Academy and many of the awards season hangers-on intelligentsia is finally seeing the genre differently. Its not an overnight transition. Wed even argue Robert Eggers Nosferatu is easily better than at least five of the films nominated for Best Picture this year, but tellingly no one in the Academy or its many prognosticators thought to even give it a chance. Because The Substance was in major consideration, there would neverOther snobbery still persists against the genre, as one one presumable gray-hair Academy crystallized in their anonymous report to VarietyThe Substance was gross, over-the-top, and I dont think Demi was anything special. They apparently emphatically said they despise it. Meanwhile some culture gatekeepers all but clutched pearls while tut-tutting how The Substance left them so overwhelmed by the volume of latex, fake blood, and barfed-up boobs, and so confused trying to puzzle through the storys internal logic and parse its over-the-top third act, that I didnt really register Moores performance at all.Heres the thing though: that perception is now in the minority among the many gatekeepers of the American movie industrys Oscar stage. Not only is Moore nominated, but so is Fargeat for Best Original Screenplay, Best Director, and of course, Best Picture.A win for Moore in her lane would give the popcorn actress some long overdue validation for a career that has always been more than disposable entertainment. It could also help shatter the last illusion about what kind of film, or performance, is deserving of being labeled something as ephemeral as the best.

Each current iPhone gets its own wallpaper, and it turns out theres a fun hidden message in the official iPhone 16 wallpapers.While not obvious when viewing the one of the models in isolation, it becomes much easier to spot when you see three of them side-by-side in the comparison tool on Apples website As John Gruber notes, the wallpaper actually represents the camera lenses present in each model.Take note of a clever touch: Apples default wallpapers for each phone subtly suggest how many camera lenses they have.Its one of those fun things the company enjoys including from time to time. Weve previously seen what are colloquially known as easter eggs things which only appear in certain circumstances:This is a little different in that the secret is hiding in plain sight.Speaking of the camera lenses, Gruber measured the thicknesses of the three models at three different points, with the iPhone 16e being unique in lacking a raised camera module what Gruber refers to using the geological term mesa, referring to a flat-topped mountain or elevated feature.Not only does the 16e completely omit the mesa, but the thickness of the entire camera, from the lens to the front display, is less than the thickness of the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro at their mesas, not even including their lenses.Given that this gives the camera and entire rear of the phone a much more minimalist look, its somewhat surprising that Apple isnt expected to take this approach with the iPhone 17 Air instead were expecting an entire raised bar.Image: Screengrab from the Apple websiteAdd 9to5Mac to your Google News feed. FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.Youre reading 9to5Mac experts who break news about Apple and its surrounding ecosystem, day after day. Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Mac on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay in the loop. Dont know where to start? Check out our exclusive stories, reviews, how-tos, and subscribe to our YouTube channel

One of the questions raised by the iPhone 16e naming is whether it points to an annual update to the entry-level iPhone, with an iPhone 17e following next year.A leaker who got early wind of the the iPhone 16e name says there are already signs that this may be the case, with a codename believed to reference next years model The iPhone SE was an occasional updateApples previous entry-level phone, the iPhone SE, wasnt updated on a fixed schedule. The original model launched in 2016, with a four-year wait for the 2nd-gen in 2020. That was followed by the 3rd-gen model two years later.Having a completely separate naming convention for the budget model meant that Apple was free to launch new models as and when it wanted, without the name growing dated.But the iPhone 16e could signal a changeBut thats changed with the iPhone 16e. Right now, the name suggests a current model, sitting alongside the existing flagship line-up. But come the September launch of the iPhone 17, the name will already identify it as a previous-generation device.Thats led to speculation that Apple now plans to update the phone annually, with an iPhone 17e launching next year, and annual updates continuing beyond that.This idea seems to have gained traction with a Weibo post by Fixed Focus Digital, one of the first to point to the iPhone 16e name ahead of Apples announcement.A source shared a little information: e model is likely to be available in the next generation. At present, a new project code has been seen, which is suspected to be 17e.9to5Macs TakeThe new naming convention does provide some basis for anticipating annual updates, though it should be noted that Apple has previously continued to sell earlier models, so the company wouldnt necessarily be concerned about a visibly-outdated name.The evidence provided here is relatively weak: a codename which is believed to refer to an iPhone 17e. But on balance, I do believe this is Apples current plan.I use that phrase advisedly, however. As I argued earlier in the month, this is an experiment by Apple. As with the Plus and the mini models, Apple wont hesitate to ditch its latest experiment if sales fail to meet expectations.Photo: 9to5Mac collage of images from Apple andMatthew McBrayeronUnsplashAdd 9to5Mac to your Google News feed. FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.Youre reading 9to5Mac experts who break news about Apple and its surrounding ecosystem, day after day. Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Mac on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay in the loop. Dont know where to start? Check out our exclusive stories, reviews, how-tos, and subscribe to our YouTube channel

Quantum computing is expected to solve complex problems, but the technology has a dark underbelly, which is its ability to render classical encryption obsolete. That means every file at rest and in motion is at risk without limitation.[T]he advent of quantum computing is a game-changer -- a double-edged sword that demands both urgency and precision in response, says Timothy Bates, AI, cybersecurity, blockchain and XR professor of practice at University of Michigan and former Lenovo CTO, in an email interview. Quantum computing has the potential to render our current encryption methods, like RSA and ECC, obsolete almost overnight. It's not a question of if but when. That when could be sooner than we think given the accelerating pace of quantum advancements. The implications for secure communications, financial systems and even national security are staggering.As Always, Bad Actors Have an EdgeThe potential winners of the cryptography threat are countries unbound by strict ethical or regulatory frameworks. Bates says they will leverage quantum to breach security protocols without hesitation. Quantum-as-a-service (QaaS) platforms lower the bar for malicious actors, and the asymmetry between regulatory-constrained organizations and rogue entities gives the latter a significant edge.Related:Quantum-safe encryption must be prioritized. The industry needs to fast-track the development of post-quantum cryptographic standards and embed them into critical systems now, not later. Collaboration between quantum computing pioneers, cybersecurity leaders and regulators will be crucial to staying ahead, says Bates. Governments must adopt policies that encourage responsible quantum development while creating international standards to deter misuse.He also believes that CIOs, CTOs, and CISOs must band together to share intelligence, pool resources, and test emerging quantum technologies in controlled environments because no one can tackle the problem alone.Timothy Bates, University of MichiganTimothy Bates, University of MichiganStart piloting quantum-resistant technologies today. Its better to face small, controlled failures now than catastrophic breaches later. Push for investments in quantum technologies and talent pipelines. These will be the linchpins of your organizations survival in a post-quantum world, says Bates.While competition drives innovation, collaboration ensures resilience. Engage with peers, regulators, and even competitors to develop collective safeguards. Quantum computing isnt a looming threat, its an imminent reality. Our response must be strategic, collaborative and immediate. The stakes couldnt be higher, and the clock is ticking. Lets not get caught on the wrong side of history.Related:CISOs Are Rightly ConcernedQuantum computing has sent shivers down the spines of CIOs, CTOs, and CISOs. While there's always innovation, such as Post Quantum Cryptography (PQC), the question is will that innovation happen soon enough?What is different is that quantum computing, rather than being an evolution, is shaping to be a revolution, says Jon France, CISO at ISC2, a non-profit member organization for cybersecurity professionals, in an email interview. One of the concerns is the compromise of classical asymmetric encryption. However, theres also quantum resilient encryption, algorithms, and attendant cryptography suites that are designed to be resilient to the emerging quantum compute -- it's shaping up to be a race to become resilient [and] safe.Examples of quantum resilient suites currently include Crystals-Dilithium, Crstals Kyber, Sphincs+ and Falcon.Jon France, ISC2Jon France, ISC2[T]he solution to the problem is known: Change from quantum vulnerable suites to quantum safe suites. [It] is conceptually easy but practically hard to achieve, says France. The concern is that this is a huge change task. Nearly everything digital relies on asymmetric encryption, and changing those billions of entities over to new suites will take time. For some, this will not be possible due to compute constraints, reachability, etc., so we will also have a legacy problem.Related:Savvy IT Departments Also Recognize the Threat[O]ur lives are on the internet -- banking, utilities, everything. If quantum computers existed today, there would be a global shutdown of services, says Troy Nelson, chief technology officer at cybersecurity solutions provider Lastwall, in an email interview. My biggest concerns are that the education right now doesn't exist, and that people aren't aware, or the people in the right places aren't aware, or aware enough to start reacting. [W]e see state actors that are intercepting core internet routers to divert traffic, and they've got warehouses full of all of our internet data that at some point in time, whether it's three or five or 10 years from now, when they do have access to a quantum computer, they will be able to decrypt everything that they're currently capturing.Companies are potentially exacerbating the problem by failing to comprehend the threat and postponing investment.None of the quantum computers that are being offered as a service today can really break our modern-day encryption, but when they do become full million qubit quantum computers that can break modern encryption, we need to be using quantum resistant algorithms, says Nelson. [I]f you don't have budget to start moving to new algorithms, start making a cryptographic inventory [because] a lot of organizations and agencies probably aren't aware of what cryptographic algorithms they're using, where theyre using them or what theyre being used for. If you have an executive summary of your cryptography, and you can see your weak points, and you can plan for the upgrade and start having an idea of how to fit that into your budgeting cycle.Sebastian Straub, principal solution architect at enterprise-grade data protection solution provider N2WS, says three things need to happen: the development of post-quantum cryptography before quantum computers can be weaponized; the passage of regulation designed to prevent a quantum arms race through international agreements; and education among IT professionals.With QaaS platforms already available today, state-sponsored hackers can experiment with quantum computing without worrying about oversight. Examples include IBM Quantum, Amazon Braket,Microsoft Azure Quantum, and Xanadu, says Straub in an email interview. Defensive measures like PQC and zero-trust architectures can help level the playing field before we lose our minds -- if we start implementing them now.Peter O'Donoghue, chief technology officer at technology solutions provider Tyto Athene, says while quantum computers capable of breaking RSA-2048 are probably decades away, proactive measures are nevertheless essential.The timeline for innovation is less about technology readiness and more about how swiftly organizations implement quantum-resistant solutions to stay ahead of emerging threats, says ODonoghue. Organizations should implement PQC as an element of a modern security posture. Migrating to post-quantum encryption requires a multi-year, multi-pronged approach toward complying with PQC mandates and safeguarding digital assets against future quantum threats. Although this isnt an easy transition, its a necessary one. Organizations must start implementing these measures to remain ahead of emerging quantum threats, or they risk long-term security challenges.He believes enterprises should establish a centralized center of excellence (CoE) for crypto agility because it would provide a unified encryption policy plane across all infrastructure elements, managing key generation, storage, rotation and deployment. By centralizing these functions, risk management professionals gain the necessary oversight and control to ensure that appropriate risk-based decisions are made. Theyre also in a better position to adapt to evolving cryptographic challenges while maintaining strong security and compliance.The Time To Start is NowIn addition to generating a technical inventory of the cryptography use, Konstantinos Karagiannis, head of quantum computing services at business consulting firm Proviti, warns that organizations should also examine any third-party vendors used and their PQC plans.On August 13, 2024, NIST published its first set of standards for post-quantum cryptography. The group will standardize further ciphers in the future, too, says Karagiannis in an email interview. NIST has given dates of 2030 for deprecating and 2035 for disallowing vulnerable encryption, so it should be feasible for most companies to meet these deadlines.While the deadlines should protect most data types, some secrets with a long shelf life may still leak. Bad actors, especially nation states, have already been harvesting trade secrets, healthcare information and government classified information that will remain of interest even decades after being harvested.My biggest concern is that companies will think they have a long time because quantum computers might be a decade away from cracking encryption. Public opinion swings quickly, as we saw when quantum stocks went down in value after Nvidias CEO commented on how long it would be before quantum computers offered value, says Karagiannis. As mentioned, harvest-now, decrypt-later attacks mean your data can be awaiting decryption by an attacker even as you read these words. Everyone needs to start the migration process this year.Only federal agencies are currently required to begin PQC migration, he says. Regulators in the private sector need to quickly follow the example set by the White House NSM-10 memorandum and require companies to go through the steps of building a cryptographic inventory, creating a migration plan by 2030, and then executing the plan.We also need system manufacturers, software providers, and cloud service companies to begin offering PQC solutions. Ideally, anything you buy a year or two from now will have PQC aboard, making migrating older systems a one-time process we all need to get through. New organizations formed towards the decade's end should have turn-key PQC available, says Karagiannis. Start the journey to PQC today.