成人大片

What makes some businesses more willing than others to start preparing for the cybersecurity upgrades that quantum computing will soon demand? 

When 成人大片 (成人大片) information technology management professor Atty Mashatan went looking for the reasons, she discovered a surprising answer.

In a research project that took a unique socio-technical approach to the quantum cybersecurity threat, professor Mashatan discovered an unexpected driver for the inevitable digital migration: the typically detested scenario of being stuck in a bad deal.

Vendor lock-in, the business term for dependence on a single provider for a product or service, tends to be perceived as a negative for any organization that experiences it. The reason? No one likes being reliant on a single option or product, especially one that ages poorly. Then there鈥檚 the fact that changing providers is often both costly and time-consuming.

However, the research found vendor lock-in actually has a very significant positive impact on an organization鈥檚 intentions to prepare for the cybersecurity changes powerful quantum computers will necessitate.

Organizations locked into a cybersecurity vendor understand the impediment

As professor Mashatan explained, organizations locked into a single cybersecurity vendor understand the impediment they face and use it to incentivize their intent to prepare. 

鈥淭his is very counterintuitive, because usually when companies are in a vendor lock-in situation, it means they don't have their act together,鈥� she said. 鈥淭he companies we got the empirical data from, if they felt they were in a vendor lock-in situation, they're actually starting their quantum migration plans sooner.鈥�

The paper is based on a survey of businesses from North America, the European Union and the United Kingdom.

An industry-seasoned cybersecurity expert, director of 成人大片鈥檚 Cybersecurity Research Lab and Canada Research Chair in Quality of Security Framework for Internet of Things, professor Mashatan is acutely aware of the cybersecurity threat posed by cryptographically relevant quantum computing (CRQC) 鈥� machines that will be able to solve encryptions too complex for classical computers.

鈥淥nce we have a cryptographically relevant quantum computer, the current cryptography is going to be broken,鈥� she explained. 鈥淭hat means we need to transition to what we call post-quantum cryptography, or quantum-resistant cryptography.鈥�

Even though CRQC machines are still being developed, professor Mashatan counsels organizations to overcome barriers and start preparing for the inevitable, rather than waiting and reacting.

鈥淭hings are evolving really, really quickly,鈥� she said. 鈥淭he time to act is now. You need to establish governance. You need to have inventory. Where is your cryptographic footprint? What are your crown jewels, the assets that are most important for your business?鈥�

At the outset of this project, professor Mashatan was curious to know why some organizations embrace the need to prepare for the coming changes while others are content to wait.

鈥淓ven if they understand quantum migration is bound to happen in the next five years, some are preparing now and some are not. We wanted to decouple and understand that nuance,鈥� professor Mashatan said. 

鈥淧eople have been talking about this. Technologists have been talking about this. Ours is the first paper to actually validate it empirically. We鈥檙e showing these things are true, not just saying it鈥檚 common sense.鈥�

 recently presented at the 2025 European Conference on Information Systems (ECIS) in Amman, Jordan.