Non-Technical Start Here

Almost everything private in your life is protected by math that a future computer will be able to undo. That’s not a prediction anybody’s arguing about. The method was published in 1994, it’s been checked ever since, and the only missing piece is a machine big enough to run it.

What makes it urgent rather than theoretical is that somebody can copy your scrambled data today and keep it until that machine exists. You’d never know it happened, because copying doesn’t break anything.

This section explains all of it without jargon. No security background needed, nothing assumed.

I’m Addie LaMarr, a former U.S. Air Force cryptographer, and I’ve been taking these notes for years while working on post-quantum migration full time. I put them here because the confusion around this subject is doing real damage, and most of what people actually need isn’t advice, it’s the map. Every figure on every page traces back to its original document, and I keep it current, because standards finalize and governments publish new deadlines faster than most write-ups get revised. Corrections are logged in public at Corrections and verification. I’d rather you tell me I’m wrong before you publish than after.

In a hurry?

If you read one thing is the whole story in about 3 minutes, in the plainest words it can be told in.

Where do you want to start?

The basics What's actually happening, what encryption even is, what a quantum computer does, and when any of this lands. Start here → What's at risk Which of your information matters, why your DNA and medical records are the worst cases, and why nobody will ever tell you. Start here → What to do The short honest list for you, what the places holding your records should be doing, and who's selling you something you don't need. Start here → For business leaders What it costs, who's liable, what you can't fix yourself, what regulators expect, and how to explain it to a board. Start here → For policymakers What's already law, how national approaches differ, what critical infrastructure is exposed, and what nobody has legislated yet. Start here → For press Four complete resources by audience, the sourced numbers, the primary documents, and the errors that draw corrections. Start here →

The whole thing in 6 points

• Your data travels scrambled. Anyone watching sees nothing readable, which is why online banking and private messages work at all.
• The scrambling rests on math that’s easy one way and nearly impossible to reverse. A quantum computer reverses it. Nobody’s built one big enough yet.
• So the theft happens now and the reading happens later. Copies get stored until the machine exists, and storage costs almost nothing.
• You’ll never be notified. Copying breaks nothing, so there’s no incident, and every breach-notification law is built around there being an incident.
• It only matters for things still sensitive years from now. Most of what you send is worthless to a thief in 15 years. Your DNA, fingerprints, and medical history aren’t.
• The repair already exists and it’s already rolling out. Your phone and browser probably got it without telling you, and the U.S. government has set dates for retiring the old encryption: deprecated after 2030, banned after 2035.

What lives in this section

The basics → Start Here MOC

What’s happening, what encryption is doing for you, what a quantum computer actually is, when this is expected to land, whether it’s overhyped, and the mechanism itself explained without mathematics.

What’s at risk → Whats At Risk MOC

Which of your information is worth stealing, why DNA and biometrics are permanent, what happens to medical records, passwords, Bitcoin, and implanted devices, and why you’ll never get a letter about it.

What to do → What To Do MOC

The honest short list, what your phone already did, what your doctor and bank should be doing, the products being sold that don’t work, and a template for asking any company what their plan is.

For business leaders → For Business Leaders MOC

The 9 families of company data, cost, liability, vendor dependency, what regulators expect, insurance, how to brief a board, and the questions to put to your own security team.

For policymakers → For Policymakers MOC

What’s already law in the U.S. and abroad, international coordination, China, critical infrastructure, what remains unlegislated, who pays, and what to ask in a hearing.

For press → For Press

Four self-contained resources by audience, an annotated index of every primary document, every figure with the wording that states it accurately, a glossary, and the errors that draw corrections.

Where the technical version lives

Everything here has a fuller version written for security professionals, and each page links to its own. The complete reference starts at 00 Field Guide Map, and Foundations MOC is where the cryptography gets explained properly.

Every claim in both layers carries its primary source and the date it was last checked.

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Last verified 2026-08-02 · Maintained by Addie LaMarr, LaMarr Labs.