IonQ has signed a definitive agreement to buy Elisity, a Zero Trust security specialist, in an all-stock deal worth as much as $1.3bn.

The move pairs quantum-era encryption with identity-based network defence as enterprises prepare for the arrival of quantum-capable attackers.

The transaction combines IonQ’s post-quantum cryptography (PQC) and quantum key distribution (QKD) technology with Elisity’s enterprise Zero Trust platform. Together, the businesses aim to offer a broader cybersecurity proposition designed to detect and defend against both current threats linked to large language models and quantum risks that are still emerging.

Elisity has consistently doubled its revenue and customer numbers each year, and none of its deployed customers have left. With more than 100 deployments worldwide and close ties to chief information security officers and the wider security community, the company gives IonQ new routes to market for its PQC, QKD and quantum computing products across enterprise and government networks. The deal also opens IonQ to the microsegmentation market, valued at over $10bn and growing at a double-digit compound annual rate.

Organisations are now balancing two pressing demands: halting attacks that move at machine speed and safeguarding sensitive data against future quantum-enabled decryption. Recent White House executive orders promoting quantum innovation and speeding up the federal shift to PQC have added urgency, pushing government bodies to harden critical systems ahead of quantum-era threats.

Elisity’s core product, IdentityGraph, merges native asset identity with partner-supplied context and risk data to set least-privilege access rules for users, devices, workloads and AI agents. Security teams can test policies in simulation before restricting each identity to only the connections it requires, shrinking the attack surface and limiting how far a breach can spread.

Source link