Protecting American Data Is the Real Crisis in National Security

(TheHill) We are definitely in the midst of a data security crisis. Author is Medal of Honor recipient Jack H. Jacobs, a retired Colonel in the United States Army and former investment banker. He currently serves as an on-air military analyst for NBC News and is an advisor to Quantum Xchange.
Jacobs explains his warning to America: The confluence of national security, financial services, and quantum technology may sound like the beginning of a very tired joke, but recent criminal attacks on government and commercial entities in the United States and other countries constitute a rapidly rising tide of malicious assaults on the very data on which countries now rely.
Jacobs continues in this editorial: It seems that officials have yet to grasp either the widespread damage these incursions can inflict or what needs to be done now to deflect and eliminate future threats.
The heart of everything we do today is composed of data, much of it data in transit as it moves among companies, or countries, or within communities.
The financial services industry, however, may provide some guidance. Take, for example, the strides leaders like JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs are taking with quantum technology.
While the promise of quantum computing may be years away, these banks and others are investing in early-stage quantum technologies to solve complex and resource-intensive financial computations. But simultaneously they’re also researching, developing and testing quantum-based solutions for security risks.
It is important to remember that no organization — United Technologies or Boeing, JP Morgan or Wells Fargo, or the Department of Energy and the Department of Homeland Security — exists in a vacuum. We are all connected by data.
As in most endeavors, successful tactics often involve a fundamentally novel way of doing something.

First however:

• You must acknowledge there is a problem. Some security pros mistakenly believe they are on top of the threat, or that the risk of Q-Day is so far away that it doesn’t have an impact on their organization. It is vital that leaders understand the scale, complexity, and danger of this problem.
  Don’t be naïve. Whatever you’re doing now, don’t convince yourself or anyone else that you’re fixing it. Even if you think it’s fixed today, it’s not fixed for tomorrow. And your organization remains open to attacks and threats that also put your trading partners, clients, and suppliers in jeopardy.
  Get out of your IT security box. Quantum-safe security technologies are available today, and they will protect your data for the future. Be alert to new approaches beyond traditional IT security.