Security, space and the Walbrook Club

On 16 June, Frances’s national cybersecurity agency ANSSI announced that it will not certify security products that lack quantum-resistant encryption from 2027. What it means in practice is that any company selling to state bodies will be shut out of the bidding for, say, infrastructure projects such as building data centres.

A week later, President Trump signed an executive order, ‘Securing the nation against advanced cryptographic attacks’. It brings forward deadlines for government agencies to transition to quantum-secure communications: December 2030 for key encryption systems and December 2031 for other systems.

This is a wake-up call to other countries. The French and the Americans are right to accelerate regulation for three reasons.

First, there has been a constant stream of news this year about quantum computing advancements.

Second, adversaries are harvesting data now, with the aim of decrypting it later when quantum computers reach that capability.

Third, the cost of cyberattacks is escalating. For instance, a 2025 attack on vehicle manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover had a UK financial impact of £1.9bn and affected over 5,000 organisations, according to estimates from the Cyber Monitoring Centre.

Adversaries are harvesting data now, with the aim of decrypting it later when quantum computers reach that capabilityAON’s biennial authoritative ‘Global risk management survey’ (GRMS) risk register, published in October 2025, continues to place cyberattacks as the number one risk, with AI adoption accelerating exposure. The GRMS also notes that geopolitical volatility is, for the first time, seen as a top ten risk. That feeds into the fragility of cyber safety, as hostile state actors support criminal groups targeting companies and governments.

Our world is too digital-dependent to allow lax deadlines for adopting the armour of post-quantum cryptography. The clarion call from the French and the Americans should be heeded by all.

Space to growQuantum and cybersecurity are two of the UK’s industrial strategy priority technologies. The others are AI, semiconductors, engineering biology and advanced connectivity. Space seems an odd omission, given its relevance to all those mentioned.

The global space economy could grow to US$1.8tn by 2035 from US$630bn in 2023, notes a report from the World Economic Forum and McKinsey. It can help deal with Earth’s many issues.

Data centres with their vast energy use and high costs? Cheaper to run in space, with the added environmental benefit of space-based solar power. Other benefits: satellite upgrades in situ without the need to bring down the hardware, biomedical research which could speed up drug discovery for cancers, and detection of outbreaks of crop disease through improved satellite communication.

One of the world’s most valuable companies is SpaceX. Although founder Elon Musk’s personality – arguably too big for this planet – played a part in its market capitalisation reaching around US$2.43tn following its IPO, experienced venture capital and institutional funds also bought into the equity issue on 12 June. The valuation suggests investors see value beyond the hype.

“The rate of growth of the space industry has been propelled by exponential declines in the cost of access to space,” notes Rob Desborough, managing partner of Seraphim Space. “It has fallen by 100 times in the last decade, with a further potential 100 times fall projected over the next decade.”

The investment trust’s global Space Index reports a record US$8bn in investment deployed in Q1 2026, double the last quarter of 2025, a clear indication that state actors and private companies are doubling down on the sector.

The UK has, as in many technologies, been outstanding on the science front and in financing start-ups. However, it is lagging in scale-up capital, currently standing 23rd place in the world for average deal size in the space sector, due to the lack of Series A/B funding and further fundraising.

The solution is twofold. The government should add the space sector to its industrial strategy, thus ensuring policy drivers on tax relief and incentives are put in place. And institutional UK funds should step up their involvement in the sector through the Mansion House Accord, a voluntary agreement to invest in non-listed assets.

A club with characterRocket-like in its ascent is the Walbrook Club. Under the leadership of the Hon. Philip Palumbo, who took over from his father in 2018, membership numbers have risen to 650, all squeezed into a beautiful little Queen-Anne style brick house, sandwiched between a Wren church and modern, glass-abundant buildings like that of Bloomberg.

Guest speakers range from ambassadors to CEOs to politicians.

Many years ago, I overheard a conversation between two Conservative Party politicians in the bar area. One told the other she planned to “throw her hat in the ring” to be prime minister. She made it. Her companion became her chancellor. Liz Truss did not last long, nor did Kwasi Kwarteng.

Let us hope for some prime ministerial stability amidst yet another reshuffle at the top of UK government.

The Walbrook, unlike cryptography, the space sector and government, needs no improvement.