QD5's executive vice president, Tilo Kunz, told officials from the Defense Information Systems Agency that possibly as soon as 2025, the world would arrive at what has been dubbed ""Q-day,"" the day when quantum computers make current encryption methods useless. In the meantime, Kunz told the panel that a global effort to plunder data is underway so that intercepted messages can be decoded after Q-day in what he described as 'harvest now, decrypt later' attacks, according to a recording of the session the agency later made public. Militaries would see their long-term plans and intelligence gathering exposed to enemies. Businesses could have their intellectual property swiped. People's health records would be laid bare. Opinion is divided on the expected arrival of Q-day, to be sure. Some researchers estimate that Q-day might come closer to the middle of the century. The US and China are considered the leaders in the field; many experts believe America still holds an edge.