Why Post-Quantum Cryptography Starts With Credentials

The rise of quantum computing introduces a long-horizon but urgent threat: attackers are already harvesting encrypted data today with the intent to decrypt it once sufficiently powerful quantum computers become available. Current public-key cryptography standards like RSA and elliptic curve cryptography will be rendered obsolete by quantum algorithms, exposing long-lived secrets, credentials, and non-human identities. Organizations that delay migration to post-quantum cryptography (PQC) risk having years of sensitive communications and credentials retroactively exposed. This matters most for data with long confidentiality requirements, such as government secrets, financial records, and persistent machine identities. Beginning the migration with credential management is critical because compromised credentials are the most direct path to systemic breaches.