What is Q-Day?

This episode of Techsplainers explores Q-Day, the point at which quantum computers become capable of breaking the public-key cryptography that protects digital systems today. Rather than treating Q-Day as a single dramatic moment, this episode explains why many experts now view it as a gradual process that will unfold unevenly over time as different cryptographic systems become vulnerable at different rates. The episode walks through the traditional definition of Q-Day, why improvements in quantum hardware and algorithms are shrinking the time horizon, and how “harvest now, decrypt later” attacks are already putting long-lived sensitive data at risk. It also examines why organizations should care now. Not because every system will fail at once, but because cryptographic migration across applications, infrastructure, data flows, and third-party dependencies can take years. Find more information at https://www.ibm.com/think/perspectives/quantum-computers-are-speeding-towards-cryptographic-relevanc... Find all the Techsplainers episodes here: https://www.ibm.biz/techsplainers-podcast Narrated by Teaganne Finn