Store Now, Decrypt Later
Why we must act now, not when quantum arrives
Intelligence agencies and state-sponsored hackers are actively intercepting and storing encrypted communications today — military blueprints, diplomatic cables, corporate secrets. The data is currently unreadable, but when a is built, they will decrypt everything retroactively. This is Store Now, Decrypt Later (SNDL).
Mosca's Inequality
If X + Y > Z, you have already failed for that data class — where X is how long data must stay confidential, Y is migration timeline, and Z is time until a . For data needing 25+ years of secrecy, the math is already dire.
Three Colliding Timelines
Data shelf-life
Medical and military secrets need 25–50 years of confidentiality — a in 15 years exposes what you encrypt today.
Embedded systems
Satellites, grids, and vehicles have / burned into silicon for 20-year lifespans — not easily patched.
The migration marathon
The last crypto upgrade took nearly two decades. Waiting for Q-Day means arriving decades late.
The EU's NIS Coop Group has recognized that HNDL attacks are 'likely occurring already now.' This is not a future threat — it is a present-day reality.
Explore more in the atlas
Key Takeaways
- Adversaries are actively intercepting and storing encrypted data today for future quantum decryption
- Mosca's Inequality: if data lifetime + migration time > time to CRQC, you've already failed
- Three colliding timelines make delay catastrophic: data shelf-life, embedded systems, migration duration