The rapid development of quantum technologies, such as quantum computing, quantum internet, and quantum sensing, has led to a growing awareness of theethical issues surrounding these technologies. This literature review aims to analyze the existing research on these ethical issues using the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) literature review approach. The literature search was conducted using the following databases: Scopus ArXiv, and IEEE Xplore, and the search terms used were “quantum computing,” “quantum internet,” “quantum sensing,” “quantum technology,” AND “ethics.” Inclusion criteria were: (1) articles that addressed ethical issues related to quantum technologies and (2) articles that were written in English. A total of 14 articles were included in the review. The majority of the articles (64 percent) were published in the last 5 years. The majority of the articles (78 percent) focused on the potential impact of quantum technologies on privacy and security, with a particular emphasis on the potential for quantum computers to break encryption and the subsequent impact on privacy and security. Approximately 50 percent of the articles focused on the accessibility and responsibility dimensions of quantum technologies. This scoping review has demonstrated that there is a growing awareness of the ethical issues surrounding quantum technologies and an increasing number of researchers, policymakers, and industry leaders working to address them. Future research should continue to explore these ethical issues in more depth and develop recommendations for addressing them.
The rapid development of quantum technologies, such as quantum computing, quantum internet, and quantum sensing, has led to a growing awareness of theethical issues surrounding these technologies. This literature review aims to analyze the existing research on these ethical issues using the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) literature review approach. The literature search was conducted using the following databases: Scopus ArXiv, and IEEE Xplore, and the search terms used were “quantum computing,” “quantum internet,” “quantum sensing,” “quantum technology,” AND “ethics.” Inclusion criteria were: (1) articles that addressed ethical issues related to quantum technologies and (2) articles that were written in English. A total of 14 articles were included in the review. The majority of the articles (64 percent) were published in the last 5 years. The majority of the articles (78 percent) focused on the potential impact of quantum technologies on privacy and security, with a particular emphasis on the potential for quantum computers to break encryption and the subsequent impact on privacy and security. Approximately 50 percent of the articles focused on the accessibility and responsibility dimensions of quantum technologies. This scoping review has demonstrated that there is a growing awareness of the ethical issues surrounding quantum technologies and an increasing number of researchers, policymakers, and industry leaders working to address them. Future research should continue to explore these ethical issues in more depth and develop recommendations for addressing them.
This systematic review examines the transformative impact of quantum computing (QC) on cybersecurity by analysing peer-reviewed literature published between 2019 and 2024. The study identifies the most pressing emerging threats, particularly the vulnerability of classical cryptographic systems to quantum algorithms such as Shor’s and Grover’s. It assesses the current state of post-quantum cryptography (PQC) solutions, including lattice-based schemes and hybrid frameworks integrating quantum key distribution (QKD). The originality of this work lies in its focus on synthesizing research across disciplines while critically evaluating implementation readiness, economic feasibility, and scalability particularly for internet of things (IoT) environments. Key contributions include the integration of real-world pilot case studies, a preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (PRISMA) -based methodological framework, and a strategic outlook for interdisciplinary collaboration. This review provides significant insight into the evolving cybersecurity landscape and offers robust recommendations for policymakers, researchers, and practitioners aiming to navigate the quantum era with confidence.
Abstract The rapid evolution of quantum computing introduces significant challenges for information security, particularly in governance, risk management, and the resilience of existing cryptographic mechanisms. This research reports the results of a systematic literature review (SLR) conducted following PRISMA guidelines, based on 56 peer-reviewed journal articles published between 2015 and 2025. The results show that only 16.1% of the selected papers explicitly address governance and security policies, confirming the comparatively limited attention paid to these topics despite recent advances in governance research and the predominance of technical approaches. Based on this synthesis, the research identifies stages of maturity in the evolution of quantum security and proposes a conceptual framework for interpreting governance from a socio-technical perspective. The findings indicate that advances in quantum security are not matched by equivalent progress in governance and policy design.
This study explores how to build quantum-resistant systems to safeguard digital infrastructure in the post-quantum era by uncovering the innovations, applications, algorithms, and challenges of Quantum Computing cryptography. Utilizing the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses approach a search was conducted across the following databases for the years 2021–2025: PubMed, IEEE Xplore, ScienceDirect, SpringerLink, and Google Scholar. We shortlisted 15 studies from 519 screened articles for a comprehensive evaluation based on their relevance. Findings show strong adoption in finance, healthcare, IoT, cybersecurity, and e-government, with lattice-based PQC emerging as the most dominant cryptographic family, followed by QKD and hybrid PQC–QKD models. The review highlights key obstacles, including transition complexity, lack of global standards, high implementation costs, and integration difficulty. The study contributes by providing the first sector-aligned synthesis of innovations, identifying algorithmic trends, and mapping global research disparities through a conceptual model. It also presents a structured set of future research directions to guide policymakers, cryptographers, and practitioners preparing for quantum-enabled threats.
The rapid development of quantum computing is one of the most transformative technological developments of the twenty-first century with profound implications for cybersecurity, digital governance and the future of secure communication systems. Traditional cryptographic infrastructures have fundamentally underpinned digital trust in banking, healthcare, defense, cloud computing, and global communication networks, but the advent of quantum computational power has led to increasing concern about the future of existing standards for encryption. This qualitative study critically examines the changing relationship between quantum computing and post-quantum cryptography through an analysis of the technological, institutional, ethical and governance challenges in the transition to quantum-secure digital systems. The study adopts an interpretivist and exploratory qualitative orientation that aims to understand how governments, cybersecurity experts, technology institutions and policy frameworks are responding to the disruptive potential of quantum technologies. Data were collected using thematic analysis of academic literature, cybersecurity policy documents, archival technological reviews, expert commentaries, institutional reports, and emerging case studies related to the development of quantum-resistant cryptography. The results show that quantum computing presents serious threats to existing public-key cryptographic systems, especially in terms of theoretical abilities of Shor’s algorithm and future quantum decryption models. Meanwhile, the paper outlines post-quantum cryptography as a vital avenue for safeguarding digital privacy, institutional credibility, and cybersecurity robustness in an ever more networked society. The analysis also points to ongoing challenges around technological readiness, regulatory uncertainty, global standardization, resource inequality and ethical issues around surveillance, privacy and digital sovereignty. Yet, the research points to the potential for secure digital transformation, resilient cybersecurity governance, and the re-inventing of future communication infrastructure through post-quantum innovation. The research finds that the transition to quantum-secure systems is not just a technological challenge, but a multidimensional governance and policy challenge requiring international cooperation, ethical foresight and proactive institutional change.
This chapter discusses a systematic review of the literature available on quantum computers from their theoretical bases through their current advances to their trends in the future. It uses the PRISMA approach to collect such writings from many fields, including physics, computer science, and engineering. It identifies crucial breakthroughs, including Feynman’s conjecture and Shor’s algorithm, and examines how they have affected modern quantum computing paradigms. The said focus areas will center on quantum algorithms, hardware developments in quantum information technology, cryptography, and machine learning, all with an emphasis on their combined contribution to the growth of the field. Identified milestones include achievements of the so-called quantum supremacy and advances made possible by qubit technologies, such as superconducting circuits and ion traps. The review not only presents future challenges, such as scalability, error correction, and noise management, but also pinpoints research gaps and possible avenues for subsequent exploration. The chapter examines the themes of interdisciplinary collaboration and funding trends as well as emerging issues such as quantum cloud computing and hybrid quantum-classical models. Such an overview of the trajectory of quantum computing by this review is also an academic reference as well as a strategic guide for researchers, policymakers, and technologists traversing this fast-evolving field.
Quantum computing represents one of the most transformative technological shifts in computational science since the advent of classical computing architectures. This systematic literature review (SLR) synthesizes 212 peer-reviewed studies published between 2015 and 2024 to map the current landscape of quantum computing research as it intersects with software development practices, tools, frameworks, and methodologies. Following the PRISMA 2020 guidelines, we searched six major academic databases and identified relevant literature through a rigorous multi-stage screening process. Our analysis reveals five dominant research themes: quantum algorithm development and software frameworks, quantum machine learning integration, quantum cryptography and security applications, quantum software testing and verification, and hybrid quantum-classical software architectures. We further document major challenges including hardware decoherence, limited qubit availability, the absence of mature quantum DevOps pipelines, and a critical shortage of quantum-competent software engineers. The review concludes with a structured research agenda identifying six high-priority gaps where future scholarly work is most urgently needed. This paper provides a foundational reference for software engineers, researchers, and technology strategists seeking to understand and navigate the rapidly evolving quantum software ecosystem.