The House on Tuesday passed a bill designed to help the federal government transition to a stronger cybersecurity posture for its information technology systems in light of coming cyber challenges posed by quantum computing.
The Quantum Computing Cybersecurity Preparedness Act (H.R. 7535) passed the House 420 to three after the Senate last week approved the bill by unanimous consent. The bill now goes to President Biden to be signed into law.
The concern with quantum computers is that they will be able to easily steal encrypted information and data found on traditional computer networks.
The quantum bill directs the Office of Management and Budget, national cyber director, and the director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency to “issue guidance on the migration of information technology to post-quantum cryptography” that requires federal agencies to inventory their IT systems that will be vulnerable to quantum cryptography.
The bill also includes a Sense of Congress that a strategy is needed for the migration of federal IT to post-quantum cryptography and that government and industry need to develop applications, intellectual property and software agile enough to respond to quantum computing challenges. OMB is responsible for the strategy and delivering it to Congress 15 months after the bill is enacted.
OMB is also required to estimate the amount of funding agencies need to secure their IT from quantum computing risks.