Best of LinkedIn: ICT & Tech Insights CW 41/ 42

Quantum computing moved from proving that error correction works to proving how well it works, while the cryptographic clock for the systems it will eventually break kept running. In the same period, AI changed the pace of both attack and defense, and a critical PHP vulnerability showed how little time security teams now have between disclosure and exploitation. Across all of it, the pattern is a shift from announcements to measurable benchmarks, dated deadlines and operational accountability.

Date

October 23, 2026

ICT & Tech Insights

Thomas Allgeyer

Methodology: Every two weeks we collect most relevant posts on LinkedIn for selected topics and create an overall summary only based on these posts. If you´re interested in the single posts behind, you can find them here: https://linktr.ee/thomasallgeyer. Have a great read!

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Quantum Error Correction and Hardware

Google’s Willow cut errors 40x, reaching 99.99% T state fidelity
Quantinuum’s Helios hit a 5x10^-6 logical error rate at distance 7
A fact check disputes the Helios fidelity and Google comparison claims
Utility-scale quantum computing needs logical error rates near 10^-12
Sandia’s QUOPS benchmarks Google, IBM and Quantinuum QPUs
Syndrome data can cancel residual logical errors after error correction

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Quantum Networking, Simulation and Applications

IonQ linked two qubit types at over 1,000 connections per second
NVIDIA and Jülich simulated 104 qubits on 8,192 GPUs with 90% fewer qubits
Qrunch scaled quantum circuit simulation to 180 qubits on Gefion
IBM, AMD and Basque Quantum’s error mitigation runs 5x faster on AMD GPUs
Harvard, Anthropic and QuEra used LLMs to beat published circuit designs
DOE priority applications leave the near-term hardware range nearly empty
A hybrid quantum and AI framework cut protein prediction RMSD by 28.6%

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Post-Quantum Cryptography and Quantum Risk

The NSA requires quantum-resistant systems from 2027 and phase-out of legacy by 2030
A 2027 controller with a 15-year lifecycle makes crypto-agility a procurement test
Trust Now, Forge Later extends quantum risk from stolen data to forged signatures
Post-quantum encryption runs at scale while post-quantum authentication is still emerging
The NSA, NCSC, ANSSI and BSI chose post-quantum cryptography over QKD
Claude designed quantum circuits 17x better, moving the threat timeline earlier
Google’s result leaves the immediate Bitcoin threat unchanged but the long-term risk firmer

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AI and Cybersecurity

ISO/IEC 27090:2026 adds AI threat guidance to ISO 27001 without certification
CERT-In’s 15 October advisory flags AI agents as attack vectors
AI agents make Zero Trust least-privilege access more essential
Vulnerability management shifts from patch counts to exploitable exposure
A practitioner criticized OpenAI for claiming defender credit while sourcing a zero-day

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Active Vulnerabilities and Exploitation

PHP2Shell flaws carry CVSS 9.2 with unauthenticated remote code execution
Fixes are PHP 8.2.35, 8.3.36, 8.4.27 and 8.5.12 with no full mitigations
VulnCheck observed active exploitation of both PHP2Shell vulnerabilities
CISA told unpatched or PHP 8.1 and earlier systems to go offline
LiteLLM 1.107.0 was compromised and Node.js patched 10 flaws the same day
Cloudflare published three blogs on observed activity and protections

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OT and Critical Infrastructure Security

Dragos, Accenture and SANS launched $10 million in free OT security for small utilities
Attacks on water and refrigeration systems show the risk of internet-exposed controls
Physical operations resilience depends on asset visibility and third-party accountability

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Quantum Investment, Policy and Ecosystem

Quantum start-up investment hit $12.6 billion in 2025, 60% in the top ten deals
IonQ’s $1.3 billion acquisition, $350 million from the Department of War and Inflection’s $100 million LOI landed together
DARPA added Atom Computing, Diraq, IBM and IonQ to Stage C against a 2033 target
NVIDIA committed $250 million in compute for UK AI safety research
Amazon Braket gained FedRAMP scope while IQM and Scaleway expanded access
A 10-week New Mexico bootcamp addresses the quantum technician gap
Qunnect’s room-temperature quantum memory made TIME’s Best Inventions of 2026

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