By Thomas Stavros - Professional Services Manager of ADACOM – Cybermonth October 2025
In today’s digital economy, trust is the foundation of every online interaction, Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) and machine identities ensure the authenticity, integrity, and confidentiality of communication across the internet — from financial transactions to healthcare records and cloud services. Without strong machine identity management, the trust that supports modern business quickly breaks down.
Quantum computing is rapidly advancing, bringing with it both opportunity and risk. While breakthroughs promise to transform industries, they also pose a direct threat to current cryptographic standards. Algorithms such as RSA and ECC, which secure most of today’s digital communications, are expected to be broken by sufficiently powerful quantum computers as early as 2030. Research into post-quantum cryptography (PQC) is underway, with NIST standardizing new algorithms that are resistant to quantum attacks. Businesses must start preparing now because migration will be complex, time-consuming, and unavoidable.
Adding to the challenge is the fast growth of machine identities. Certificates are spreading across applications, devices, cloud services, and IoT environments, putting extra pressure on IT and PKI teams. Google’s push for 90-day certificate lifecycles has already highlighted how unprepared most organizations are to handle rapid renewal cycles. Weak practices — such as outdated spreadsheets, undocumented certificates, manual renewals, and single points of failure — make visibility and control nearly impossible. In such conditions, transitioning to PQC-ready infrastructure is unmanageable.
The solution lies in modern Certificate Lifecycle Management (CLM). Leading vendors are already offering advanced CLM platforms capable of automated discovery, inventory, reporting, and alerting. These systems distribute responsibility across the organization, reduce human error, and allow PKI teams to shift from reacting to outages to building proactive, compliant, and quantum-ready security processes.
Quantum computers threaten the foundations of digital trust, financial stability, national security, and personal privacy by rendering classical public-key cryptography obsolete. The quantum era is approaching faster than many expect. The question is not if but when these new challenges arrive — and whether businesses will be ready. Those that adopt strong CLM practices today will be best positioned to safeguard trust, streamline operations, and manage the coming transition to post-quantum cryptography.
For more information, contact us at info@adacom.com