Experts warn of a grave danger: Data stolen today could be read by hackers in ten years

DORA safeguards financial systems against cyberattacks The European Union has introduced a new regulatory framework called DORA, Digital Operational Resilience Act, to protect its financial infrastructure from increasingly sophisticated cyber threats. This law aims to prevent potential system collapse during large-scale cyberattacks and ensure continued access to essential services such as payments and cash withdrawals. As artificial intelligence evolves and hacking techniques become more advanced, the need for robust digital defenses has grown significantly. Martina Verić, a member of the Board of Directors at Hanfe, emphasized the importance of vigilance among individuals. She warned that messages and offers appearing too good to be true are likely false and urged citizens to carefully verify who receives their personal data and money. She highlighted the necessity of managing passwords, access rights, links, and websites to safeguard members of the financial system. Leila Taghizadeh, a member of the Steering Committee of the Quantum Secure Financial Sector Forum at Europol, noted that no single bank or institution can succeed alone in the fight against hackers. She stressed the importance of collaboration across all market players, from corporate management to service providers, as this could prove highly challenging in the future. However, she warned that the consequences of attacks could be enormous and affect everyone within the system, including citizens who might not even be aware of the risks. Sabine Balogh-Preininger, coordinator of the DORA hub at Austria’s financial market supervisory authority, pointed out that differences between countries are diminishing while cyber threats are increasing. She mentioned sectoral and individual challenges in each country, but added that all face similar issues related to artificial intelligence, post-quantum encryption, and dependency on service providers. The financial sector, particularly banks, remains a prime target due to the vast amount of data and money involved. Research conducted by American company F5 revealed that 62 percent of corporate websites in the United States have new security measures in place, compared to just 36 percent in Germany. The study analyzed one million of the world's most visited internet sites and found that 54 percent support so-called post-quantum cybersecurity. However, much of this success is attributed to Cloudflare, a provider of network services, which automatically enabled this protection for all its users. Without websites passing through Cloudflare's network, the global percentage of protected websites drops drastically to just 22 percent. European lag behind America is evident in these figures, with France securing 39 percent of its corporate websites. Experts attribute this gap to Europe's preference for local servers over global cloud platforms, leaving critical sectors like government agencies and telecommunications vulnerable, with only 35 percent of them adequately protected. According to a European plan announced last June, member states must prepare national plans by December 31, listing what and where they encrypt and initiating pilot projects. Critical systems such as energy, water, healthcare, transport, and finance should be secured by the end of 2030, with the rest following suit by 2035 if possible. Currently, the plan serves as a recommendation rather than a legal requirement, meaning there are no penalties for delays. Negotiations continue in the European Parliament and Council, and once adopted, member states will have a year to incorporate it into their laws. The issue affects anyone using mobile phones, online banking, or electronic services, as the protection guarding passwords, money, health records, and private messages is largely the same that quantum computers could break. Political pressure is growing, with Vice President of the European Commission Henna Virkkunen stating that the new protection is crucial for maintaining high levels of cybersecurity. In France, agency head Vincent Strubel announced that starting in 2027, only secure products with new protections would be rated, and by 2030, products without them would not be recommended for purchase. Estimates from ENISA, the European Agency for Cybersecurity, indicate that over 1,350 organizations in 27 countries are unprepared, with some operators in key sectors not planning to invest at all. Germany's agency BSI reduced its risk assessment from 20 to 10 years. Stefan-Lukas Gazdag, a security expert at German firm Genua, stated last summer that the first attacks using quantum computers could occur by the end of the decade. Almost the entire internet security infrastructure, ranging from browser icons to digital signatures, is based on complex mathematical problems that current computers cannot solve in a reasonable time frame. However, sufficiently powerful quantum computers could overcome these barriers effortlessly. Therefore, post-quantum cryptography introduces new, advanced mechanisms that work seamlessly on regular computers and remain impervious even to quantum computers. Such machines do not exist yet, but the threat is real.