Two brothers in Singapore have started a company to stop this from happening.

Lim Meng Liang and his brother Ken Lin started Aires Applied Quantum Technology in 2023 to sell a new kind of encryption. They think their encryption will be safe even from quantum computer attacks.

Lim studied applied mathematics at the National University of Singapore and also runs his own investment firm. He specializes in Diophantine equations.

These equations are special because there is no general way to decide if they have whole-number solutions. This makes them useful for keeping data safe.

The fact that these equations can't be solved is what Lim used to create a way to scramble data.

In 2022, Lim was granted a US patent for his encryption method. It uses artificial intelligence to build cipher text out of equations that can't be solved.

The company says this is one of the first times AI has been combined with undecidable encryption.

A researcher is working on a quantum computer in New York. These machines will soon be able to break many kinds of encryption.

Lim could have just kept his patent, but he decided to start a company with his brother.

Lin used to work in finance, but he quit to join his brother. They have different last names because of a mistake on Lin's birth certificate.

The threat from quantum computers is real, but it's not here yet. No quantum computer can break today's encryption, and the most powerful processor only has 1,100 qubits.

But the timeline is getting shorter. Google said a machine with fewer than a million qubits could crack a common encryption standard in about a week.

IBM wants to deliver its first large-scale quantum computer by 2029.

The US National Institute of Standards and Technology has finalized its first post-quantum encryption standards. It wants organizations to retire vulnerable encryption after 2030.

Lin says a standard computer might take 1,000 years to crack current encryption, but a quantum computer could do it in two days.

The company claims its encryption will stay safe even from quantum computers, but this hasn't been proven.

Aires is selling its encryption anyway. Its flagship app, LionGuard, encrypts files on devices and in the cloud.

LionGuard is still in beta, but it has over 100 subscribers across different industries.

Aires has raised over $2 million from investors and is planning to list in the US, Singapore, or Japan to raise more money.

The brothers are getting support from the Singapore government, which has committed $28.7 billion to research and innovation.

The government has also committed $230 million to quantum technology under a National Quantum Strategy.

Another company, Horizon Quantum, has deployed a commercial quantum computer in Singapore.

When Aires first started, people got confused between quantum cryptography and cryptocurrency.

Now, organizations are asking practical questions about how to use the company's encryption.