G7 Cybersecurity Working Group Warns Quantum Computing Poses Near-Term Threat to Global Encryption Infrastructure

The G7 Cybersecurity Working Group, in a report prepared in June at the G7 Summit in France and published on September 3 through France's ANSSI, warned that quantum computers capable of breaking widely used public-key cryptography could emerge on an uncertain but near-term timeline 1. The report was signed by CISA, the UK's NCSC, ANSSI, Germany's BSI, Canada's CSE, Japan's NCO and Italy's ACN 2. It said organizations "can no longer afford to postpone" transitioning to post-quantum cryptography, citing "harvest now, decrypt later" risks in which adversaries store encrypted data today to decrypt once quantum capability matures, along with threats to authentication mechanisms that could let attackers impersonate trusted entities or forge data 23. The working group called the quantum threat "off the radar for many organizations and not properly resourced" and urged a phased, risk-based transition prioritizing sensitive data and cryptographic inventories 23. The report set five priorities: raising awareness, developing national PQC strategies, advancing research and deployment, strengthening public-private coordination, and integrating PQC into procurement requirements. It urged "crypto-agility" since some NIST/NSA-vetted post-quantum algorithm candidates have already been broken by classical or AI-assisted attacks 2. CyberScoop noted the advisory follows a Trump administration executive order moving the US federal PQC migration deadline from 2035 to 2030, and Google's own internal shift to a 2029 target 2.