Elisity announces acquisition by IonQ to advance Zero Trust for the quantum era

Today, we announced that Elisity has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by IonQ, the world’s leading full-stack quantum platform and foundry. I want to share directly why I believe this is the right next phase for our customers, partners and team. This combination will enable us to build on our Zero Trust platform and the relationships we have earned to help enterprises protect operations today and prepare for the quantum era. Following closing, we intend to connect IonQ’s quantum security capabilities with Elisity’s IdentityGraph for context and policy enforcement, helping customers prioritize cryptographic upgrades while maintaining control across existing and new infrastructure.

Our customers need to contain attacks today, put AI to work safely, and prepare for quantum risk. With IonQ, we will partner to prioritize crypto-agility and post-quantum cryptography initiatives while keeping essential operations running and building on the identity platform and least privilege policies customers already trust.

“With Elisity and its team as part of IonQ, we will be well positioned to help customers protect critical infrastructure and enterprise networks throughout the transition to the quantum era. As I said first, Q-Day is coming much faster than predicted. IonQ is offering its customers a vertically integrated full-stack quantum platform across quantum computing, networking, sensing and cybersecurity. Just as adding SkyWater Technology expanded IonQ’s capabilities in chip design, fabrication and packaging, Elisity will bring proven enterprise policy enforcement scale and deployment experience to our quantum security strategy and will give IonQ a strong growth platform to serve customers and create value for our shareholders,” said Niccolo de Masi, Chairman and CEO of IonQ. 

Building on the platform customers trust

Elisity’s unified policy fabric defines who and what can communicate. This software layer operates independently of the underlying network technology and uses the network to enforce access decisions and help contain attacks that operate at machine speed.

Today, Elisity IdentityGraph combines native identity and partner-derived context to inform least-privilege access policy for users, devices, workloads, AI agents and other non-human identities. Teams can simulate policies before limiting each identity to the communications it needs. For AI agents, identity and session context informs access decisions. The platform builds on existing network and security investments and is designed to deploy in weeks without interrupting essential business operations. Legacy segmentation projects can take years, in some cases a decade, and stall before full enforcement.

Our AI security direction centers on three priorities reflected in our participation in the Open Secure AI Alliance: least-privilege policies for sanctioned agents, containment of agentic threats and attacks, and identification and control of unsanctioned AI. These priorities call for identity systems, threat detection and enforcement controls to work together across providers. We intend to continue building with that ecosystem as enterprises put AI agents to work.

Preparing for a multiyear transition

Encrypted data captured today could be retained for decryption in the future, a risk known as “harvest now, decrypt later.” Preparation also extends to the cryptography behind authentication and digital signatures, requiring coordinated changes across applications, identity systems and infrastructure.

“Quantum readiness starts with the decisions we make today about identity, access and the information we need to protect for years. I’m excited about Elisity joining IonQ because it builds on a platform we trust and connects that foundation with quantum expertise. That’s a practical path forward for customers who need to modernize security while keeping care running,” said Jason Elrod, Chief Information Security Officer at MultiCare Health System and executive advisor to Elisity.

The next phase would extend Elisity IdentityGraph with cryptographic inventory and risk information, connecting those findings to the identities, communications and business operations they affect. That context would help customers prioritize post-quantum upgrades by business risk and operational importance and apply access policies as migration proceeds. Enterprises across industries will operate legacy infrastructure alongside systems upgraded to post-quantum cryptography for years. Elisity’s unified policy fabric protects essential connections and restricts unnecessary access throughout that transition, including in life sciences, manufacturing, critical infrastructure and clinical healthcare networks. Access controls reduce exposure; cryptographic upgrades would address the underlying weaknesses.

Over time, the shared roadmap would pursue a self-healing zero trust policy that verifies approved access and corrects policy deviations within customer-defined guardrails.

For customers, the proposed combination would carry existing identity context and policies forward as AI and post-quantum requirements evolve. The goal is to preserve the value of their Elisity deployments and help them modernize at a pace their operations can sustain. The shared roadmap would help keep access policies aligned as customers update cryptographic protections over time.

“Across life sciences and critical infrastructure, we need to contain attacks today and protect sensitive information for years. Zero Trust and post-quantum cryptography belong in the same security strategy. Bringing Elisity’s policy enforcement together with IonQ’s quantum expertise would help enterprises prepare for quantum risk while building on the security investments they’ve already made,” said Michael Elmore, a Fortune 50 global CISO and Elisity design partner.

Our commitment to customers partners and employees

Partners remain central to Elisity’s approach. The companies intend to build on Elisity’s ecosystem of complementary security products and services, creating opportunities to connect identity, threat detection and cryptographic discovery with policy enforcement. Technology and services partners would help customers assess cryptographic dependencies, plan migrations and test upgrades, while connecting discovery findings with policy enforcement throughout the transition.

Following closing, Elisity will continue serving its customers under its current leadership, and I will continue as CEO. Our commitment to innovation, customer success and strong partner relationships remains unchanged. This next phase will build on Elisity’s industry leadership and the work of our team.

The agreement and next steps

The transaction is valued at up to $1.3 billion and is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2026 and is subject to customary closing conditions, including receipt of required regulatory approval.

Read IonQ’s announcement for the transaction details: IonQ to Acquire Elisity to Accelerate Zero Trust for the Quantum Era.