Is quantum about to break security?

Originally published in the  

Crypto4a Technologies is quietly rebuilding the hardware of trust so banks, governments and critical infrastructure can survive the age of quantum computing. The internet runs on a promise most people never see. Every time you open a banking app, sign a document online or submit a health record, an invisible layer of cryptography decides who can be trusted and what must remain private. For thirty years, that system has been reliable.

Quantum computing threatens to break it.

That looming reality is what drove Ottawa based Crypto4a Technologies into existence. The company, led by chief executive and cofounder Bruno Couillard, is not chasing hype. Its mission is direct and urgent. Become a guardian of quantum safety for the digital economy.

A mission forged in national security

Crypto4a’s origin story goes back decades. Its four founders were key figures at Chrysalis ITS, an Ottawa company that built hardware security modules. These devices function as vaults for the most sensitive cryptographic keys used by banks, governments and global enterprises. When money moves or secrets must be protected, hardware security modules sit at the foundation.

After leaving Chrysalis, the founders continued collaborating as consultants. That work took Bruno into major national security initiatives involving the United States National Security Agency and the Communications Security Establishment. Both agencies were undertaking a deep modernization of cryptography across military and government systems.

Then the plan changed. Signals emerged that quantum computing was advancing faster than expected. Timelines once considered distant began to shrink. The idea that quantum safe algorithms would not be required until the late twenty twenties suddenly felt optimistic.

Commercial technology barely reacted. While government agencies accelerated their plans, most of the private sector continued relying on the same public key cryptography that secured the web in the nineteen nineties. The founders saw a dangerous gap. The world was heading toward a moment when legacy cryptography would be fatally weak, yet almost nothing was being built to manage the transition.

Beginning around twenty twelve, the founders met every week to design a long term solution. After five years of sustained work, those sessions produced Crypto4a. Even the name reflects the story. Crypto for cryptography and 4a for the four amigos, a nickname given by a Department of National Defence client.

Crypto agility as a survival requirement

Very early in their work, a core insight emerged. In a quantum era, the world would not rally around one algorithm that lasts for decades. Cryptographic standards would evolve quickly as researchers uncovered weaknesses, regulators updated requirements and new attacks appeared. That meant survival depended on agility. Security hardware needed the ability to update cryptographic algorithms rapidly, retire outdated ones and adopt new ones without redesigning entire systems. Today the industry calls that crypto agility. When Crypto4a designed for it, the term did not exist.

Traditional hardware moved in the opposite direction. Algorithms like RSA were baked into dedicated chips. These application specific designs were efficient but rigid. Once deployed, they could not adapt. In a quantum context, this rigidity becomes a systemic vulnerability.

Crypto4a took a different approach. Its platform is built on field programmable gate arrays. These sit between a general purpose processor and a fixed function chip and can be reshaped in software. This flexibility allows Crypto4a to update the cryptographic engine without replacing hardware. The goal is simple. Give banks, governments and cloud providers a way to keep their vaults relevant in a world where the assumptions of classical mathematics are shifting.

From a nuclear reactor to a usable tool

Powerful cryptographic engines often suffer from a major flaw. They are too complex for broad adoption. Bruno describes the company’s core technology as a nuclear reactor. Immensely powerful but not something you hand directly to a development team.

The answer is modern software. Crypto4a built middleware, interfaces and cloud integrations that make its hardware usable in contemporary environments. It aims to pull hardware security modules into the era of graphical interfaces, cloud workflows and developer friendly tooling. If quantum safety stays trapped in highly specialized labs, it will fail to protect the systems that matter.

The silent race to quantum day

No one knows when a quantum computer powerful enough to break public key cryptography will arrive. Crypto4a often explains this uncertainty through a lesson from the Second World War. The Allies broke the German Enigma code in nineteen forty-one. The public did not learn the truth until nineteen seventy-four. For more than thirty years, that advantage remained secret. Crypto4a believes the same logic applies today. Whoever first builds a quantum machine capable of breaking encryption will not announce it. They will collect intelligence quietly for as long as possible. Even without secrecy, the practical pressures are enormous. Agencies such as the National Security Agency and the Communications Security Establishment have issued clear deadlines for phasing out vulnerable algorithms. Deprecation is targeted early in the next decade with full cessation planned a few years later.

The scale of change makes those deadlines extremely difficult. Every router, industrial controller, medical device, banking server and defense platform that relies on legacy cryptography would need to be updated or replaced. Even if the world began today, a complete transition by mid-decade is improbable. Crypto4a is building for that reality.

When quantum risk enters the physical world

The browser padlock that appeared in nineteen ninety-five marked the birth of modern secure communication. It enabled encrypted connections and unlocked electronic commerce, transforming consumer banking and allowing global technology companies to grow. For most of the next thirty years, cryptography focused on information technology. The goal was to protect data and ensure transactions were legitimate. The scope has changed. The same network that delivers video and banking now connects vehicles, hospitals, energy grids, water systems and elevators. Operational technology uses digital commands to move trains, regulate power, deliver medication and manage building systems.

Here, the security priority shifts. It is no longer simply about secrecy. It is about authenticity. Is the software controlling a smart medical pump from the verified manufacturer. Is a substation running a legitimate update or a compromised version designed to destabilize the grid. Quantum computers do not yet have the scale to break today’s algorithms, but the systems that will be vulnerable already surround us. Crypto4a argues that waiting for a catastrophic event is not an option.

Building the next generation of cryptographers

The quantum transition is hindered by another obstacle. The talent pool is limited. Cryptography demands advanced mathematics, algorithmic insight and the ability to reason through abstract logic. Those skills are rare and require years to develop.

From the beginning, Crypto4a treated talent as a long-term investment. The founders understood their mission would last decades and that the people who carry it forward might still be in university.

The company built a strong co-op program that puts students directly into product engineering. More than one hundred students have completed work terms. Many return multiple times. The experience allows Crypto4a to evaluate potential employees in real conditions and gives students exposure to some of the hardest problems in cybersecurity.

Many of those former students now work full time at the company. The result is a blended team of experienced veterans and young engineers pushing the boundaries of quantum safe security.

What this means for Canada

The Crypto4a story is larger than one company. It raises a national question. Will Canada simply import quantum safe infrastructure from foreign suppliers, or will it build and export its own. Canada has world class universities in mathematics and computer science. It has decades of deep cryptographic research and strong credibility among allied nations. Firms like Crypto4a convert that intellectual strength into practical products that can anchor economic value and national resilience.

The commercial need is unavoidable. Banks, public agencies and critical infrastructure operators all require a clear path to quantum safety. Organizations that move early will likely gain trust among customers, partners and regulators. Policy can accelerate progress. Governments can prioritize quantum readiness in procurement, invest in research and support standards that reflect the realities of operational technology.

Crypto4a may appear to be a small hardware company in a government town. Inside, a different narrative emerges. A group of engineers and young cryptographers is building the machinery that will determine which systems remain trustworthy when the quantum era arrives, and which ones fail. In a digital economy built on invisible promises, that work may become some of the most consequential engineering produced in Canada over the coming decade.

You can reach Bruno via his Linkedin