With rapid advancements in quantum computing, cybersecurity experts and adversaries are likely to begin to explore and assess the weak points in current cryptographic systems. One of the most discussed challenges is popularly called “Harvest Now, Decrypt Later” or Retrospective Decryption.

At its core, retrospective decryption embodies a surveillance-oriented approach, involving the acquisition and long-term retention of currently unreadable encrypted data which can then be decrypted through a quantum computer.