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The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) is preparing the securities market for cybersecurity risks that could emerge from quantum computing, including a possible shift towards post-quantum cryptography, Chairman Tuhin Kanta Pandey said on Thursday.
Speaking to ANI on the sidelines of the Global Fintech Fest 2026 in Mumbai, Pandey said sufficiently advanced quantum computing could pose a risk to the cryptographic systems currently used to secure digital information. Quantum is actually a risk because if you have Quant Computing coming in the future, then the cryptography we are used to can be broken. So, we have to change to post-Quantum cryptography - just preparing for that, Pandey said. Quantum computing is a form of computing that uses principles of quantum mechanics to process information. Unlike conventional computers, which work with bits represented as either 0 or 1, quantum computers use quantum bits, or qubits, which can represent more complex combinations of states. While quantum computers are still developing, sufficiently powerful machines could potentially solve some mathematical problems much faster than conventional computers. This could make certain existing encryption methods vulnerable, which is why governments, regulators and technology companies are working on post-quantum cryptography. Post-quantum cryptography refers to encryption methods designed to remain secure even against attacks using powerful quantum computers. Pandey said one of the first steps in preparing for such risks is identifying where cryptography is currently being used across systems. In order to do that, we have under our framework the possibilities: first you have to make the cryptographic inventories where the cryptography is used. Then use crypto agility going forward use such methods of cryptography which are Quantum-proof and so on and so forth, he said. Crypto agility refers to the ability of an organisation or technology system to replace or upgrade its cryptographic methods when existing security standards become vulnerable or obsolete. Pandey said there remained uncertainty over when quantum computing could become powerful enough to pose such risks, but stressed that markets needed to prepare in advance. So, these are the ways to prepare ourselves for Quantum, should it come, and everyone feels that it will come, but when it will come is the question. We should be prepared for it, and that is how the SEBI has been moving, how to make markets prepare for it, Pandey said. (ANI)
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