Hi friends! Happy Friday! What are you up to this weekend? We’re celebrating my nana’s 90th birthday (!), going to dinner at our friends’ house tomorrow night, and family dinner at our house on Sunday. I love summer so much. Kids in AZ go back to school super early – early August – so we’re trying to live up this last month as much as possible.
*Heads up, still lots of time to enter this week’s giveaway! One lucky winner will get a Lumebox and some of my fave wellness goodies.
Some pics from the week:
Mazer being RIDICULOUS
Pasta salad and steak night!
Here’s what I put in the pasta salad:
– NOW Foods quinoa pasta
– Roasted red pepper
– Cucumber
– Artichoke hearts
– kalamata olives
– Feta
– Fresh mint and basil
– Seasoned it with leftover pesto, olive oil, balsamic, salt, pepper, and oregano. I made a giant batch and we all snacked on it for a few days.
It’s time for the weekly Friday Faves party. This is where I share some of my favorite finds from the week and around the web. I always love to hear about your faves, too, so please shout out something you’re loving in the comments section below.
7.4 Friday Faves
Fashion + beauty + random:
Thank you so so much to those of you who have shopped my links this week for the EquiLife sale, the Amazon Prime Day sale, and the Nordstrom sale. Whew!! EquiLife and Nordstrom are still going strong! If you want to order a detox kit for our fall detox (we start the day after Labor Day), the link is here.
Public access for the Nordstrom sale starts tomorrow and here are the bestseller so far:
This Anthro dress. It’s true to size, has the trendy drop waist situation, and lightweight enough to wear when it’s a million degrees outside.
We ordered a Skylight during Prime Day and we LOVE it already.
We synced our Google calenders so we can easily see what’s going on each week/month/day, add in meal plans and links to the recipes for the meals, and chore charts and rewards for the kids. As a paper planner kinda gal, I’ve fought digital calenders for yearrrsssss. I eventually realized that with the kids’ schedules and the Pilot’s work schedule, this is the way to track everything for everyone.
Ordering as much as possible from Thrive Market and Butcher Box right now. It’s faster and easier just to grab produce, eggs, and dairy at the grocery store and not worry about much else.
Spelman and Morehouse alums, Reagan Fresnel and Brian Wright, are introducing students to higher-ed through “Camp HBCYouth.”
HBCU alums are giving Atlanta campers an early taste of college life at an HBCU-led summer camp, Capital B Atlanta reported.
Camp HBCYouth was designed to spark interest in historically Black colleges and enhance academic skills. The program offers affordable access and “camperships” for underserved families, said Reagan Fresnel, founder and Spelman alum.
Fresnel recalled attending a summer program at Morgan State and wanting to bring that experience home. Along with Morehouse alum Brian Wright, that is exactly what she did.
“Only 5% of Black children attend summer camp, so we are carving out space for our students,” Fresnel said to Capital B Atlanta.
She described the camp as a pipeline into HBCUs. HBCYouth strives to instill college values like legacy, community, and excellence in students early in life. To that end, the camp currently serves elementary school students.
Camp counselors are current HBCU students or graduates. At a July 3 field day held at Morehouse’s football stadium, campers took part in tug-of-war, water games, and football training led by NFL cornerback A.J. Terrell Jr. of the Falcons, sponsored by his foundation.
At the West End Spelman campus on July 9, elementary-aged girls painted a mural under the guidance of HBCU students. The camp integrates STEAM, Black history, wellness, sports, and academic enrichment aimed at preventing summer learning loss. Campers received lessons in budgeting, literacy, and tennis lessons licensed through a partnership with the USTA. Each site serves 60 to 70 children, and organizers say nearly 1,000 students have participated since the program began.
Lauren Reed, Camp HBCYouth’s director of marketing, said that hiring HBCU students provides younger campers with mentors who look like them and reflect college success.
“We want them to see people they can look up to,” she said. Spelman senior Skylar Sanford, working as a counselor, said she saw her role as mentorship and sharing joy.
Supported in part by Walmart and Amazon Access, Camp HBCYouth also offers meals to combat food insecurity and maintains a tuition of around $250 per week. Fresnel said the founders are exploring expansion to all HBCUs, extending programming from elementary to high school age to build a sustained pathway into college.
Founded in 2021 by Spelman alums Fresnel and Wright, Camp HBCYouth offers a seven-week day camp on four HBCU campuses—Spelman, Morehouse, Tennessee State, and Clark Atlanta.
Atlanta’s robust HBCU presence—driven by the Atlanta University Center, the nation’s largest HBCU consortium—provides a rich cultural backdrop for this initiative . Camp HBCYouth aims to reinforce that legacy and ensure Black youth have early exposure to environments that reflect their potential and aspirations.
Cyber is an expanding net-new growth area with opportunity to deliver a compelling insurance offering especially in the mid-market. Yet, the path to becoming a market-leading and profitable cyber insurer is fraught with challenges. In this article, we outline the essential strategies to develop a top-tier cyber offering, culminating in a guide to the 7 strategic cyber steps for the Chief Underwriting Officer.
Why cyber in the mid-market has unique challenges to mitigate
The cyber risk landscape is evolving so rapidly that insurers need a robust framework to for example enable continuous data-led learning from previous claims, deliver a seamless quote and bind process, and to mitigate unintended risk aggregation.
While the SME market will typically purchase standard cyber coverage direct and online, the mid-market consists of companies that are serviced by brokers and agents. These companies require insurers to possess both foundational and advanced capabilities to effectively address the unique challenges of cyber risk in the mid-market. The key challenges that are unique to cyber in the mid-market are as follows:
Transparency and clarity for brokers and agents: As the mid-market is predominantly serviced by brokers and agents, it’s crucial that the insurer’s risk appetite and underwriting approach are transparent. Whether the insurer offers a dedicated cyber broker portal or utilizes existing portals for multiple lines of business, the key is to have a transparent risk appetite and to make it seamless for brokers to compare quotes and to place business. Additionally, it is imperative to turn around accurate quotes on a same-day basis.
Need for both standard and bespoke policies:The mid-market consists of companies that purchase both standard and bespoke policies. Insurers therefore need to be able to quickly turn around changes to policy terms, changes to exclusions, or a different mix of higher deductibles or sub-limits. Some mid-market companies have sophisticated requirements on risk mitigation, prevention and incident response planning. For large mid-market customers there can be a need for in-depth exposure analysis to design the right insurance coverage.
Significant amounts of data: Whilst no more than four data points are required from an SME customer for a standard cyber policy (name, industry, revenue, and the customer’s website), far more data points are required by mid-market customers. Some data points can be obtained through open APIs and structured data intake from brokers, but the higher complexity of the risk, the higher the likelihood is for the relevant data points to arrive in unstructured documents.
Establishing a robust digital infrastructure for cyber insurance
Cyber insurers need foundational capabilities across distribution, quote, and bind to ensure a seamless business process. The operating model begins and ends with being focused on the customer and broker experience. Whether insurers choose to organise themselves according to the customer segment (e.g. a mid-market Center of Excellence servicing all lines of business) or according to the lines of business (e.g. a specialized one-stop-shop cyber team cutting across distribution, underwriting, and claims), it is important that this is a conscious choice made at the C-level.
All customers, irrespective of whether they purchase cyber insurance, should quantify their cyber risk and define their key cyber risk scenarios as part of their incident response planning. If they do not, they are running an unknown and potentially significant risk through the balance sheet. Some insurers may choose to invest in risk scenario capabilities, whereas others will rely on brokers or outsource to cybersecurity experts. The capabilities required for an in-depth exposure analysis is similar to what some insurers offer in a cyber saferoom that provides a secure space for pre-incident advice and training, cyber stress-testing, cybersecurity readiness verification tools, detection and response solutions, incident response planning, notification services and embedded claims services.
A key foundational capability for cyber is a strong digital core and master data management that is fit-for-purpose. Insurers require strategic tools like a robust digital core and fit-for-purpose master data management to perform detailed exposure analysis at the quote stage. These tools facilitate granular risk accumulation and establish a framework for measuring and understanding aggregated cyber risk exposure based on various parameters, including industry sector, underlying hardware and software, cybersecurity maturity, supply chains, jurisdiction, and company size. A detailed exposure management framework is crucial for effectively mitigating the risk of unintended risk aggregation.
Building advanced market leading cyber capabilities
A critical component to becoming a market-leading cyber insurer is that the technology and data capabilities must be architected to work at scale and in real-time. Cyber insurance is among the most challenging sectors due to the potentially catastrophic and boundary-less nature of breaches. Cyber incidents can be continuously evolving and unpredictable, akin to oil spillages, and can critically impact businesses, societies, and essential infrastructure like hospitals, water and sewage systems, and airports. Today, the potential for insurers to face unintended risk aggregation is a clear and present threat.
As mentioned above, significantly more data points need to be captured and modelled at the quote and bind stage for mid-market cyber policies. Additionally, at first notice of loss, there can be hundreds of relevant data points, which is far more than for example with a motor claim, where insurers typically capture 20-30 data points that are motor specific (vehicle details, purpose of use, witness details, IoT data etc.). For a cyber claim there are more than 100 data points that can be relevant for the continuous learning and refinement that feeds into exposure management, the actuarial tables, and the risk controls in the underwriting system. This in turn is what enables a market-leading insurer to remain profitable through a robust framework around risk appetite and pricing.
Aspreviously covered, there is a scarcity of cyber talent with deep proficiency in cybersecurity protocols and a deep understanding of the constantly evolving regulations and legislation across IT, AI, GDPR, and consumer privacy. Whilst investing in talent and continuously upskilling underwriters and claims adjusters, there are high-impact use cases in cyber insurance for AI and Gen AI solutions. We have seen AI and Gen AI save underwriters tens of hours a month and empower them to only spend their time on niche and hazardous risk areas that require deep human expertise.
Insurers with a strong digital core can move quickly on accelerating profitable growth in cyber, but most insurers are coming to the realization of the investments needed to implement AI and Gen AI at scale. Per Accenture’s Pulse of Change research, 46% of insurance C-suite leaders say it will take more than 6 months to scale up Gen AI technologies and take advantage of the potential benefits. If applications and data are not on the cloud, and if there is not a strong security layer, then benefiting from Gen AI at scale is virtually impossible.
The 7 strategic cyber steps for the Chief Underwriting Officer
In today’s rapidly evolving technology landscape, Chief Underwriting Officers face the critical task of steering their organizations through the complexities of cyber insurance. The following strategic steps are a roadmap for insurers to not only survive, but thrive in this challenging environment:
Define your identity in cyber insurance: Decide whether you want to be a conservative insurer, a fast follower, or a market leader. This choice will guide your investments and emphasize cyber as a core part of your business.
Establishyour cyber brand: Determine your signature offering in cyber insurance, whether it’s leading-edge risk consulting, competitive pricing, AI-powered and streamlined processes, or a strong reputation in claims service.
Opt for specialization: Choose between establishing a dedicated mid-market Center of Excellence (CoE), a cyber-specific CoE, or a hybrid operation model.
Enhance responsiveness: Transform or deploy new capabilities to deliver accurate quotes within a few hours.
Refine underwriting practices: Decide on the optimal number of underwriting variables for technical pricing. Reverse-engineer your processes to capture essential data at the broker submission and claim notification stages.
Assess cyber exposure management: Engage external experts to evaluate your cyber exposure management helping to avoid unintended risk aggregation.
Invest in talent: Focus on a talent strategy that enhances skills and integrates advanced technologies like AI and Gen AI to keep pace with the evolving cyber risk landscape.
Measuring the path to being a cyber market leader
Designing and executing a leading framework for cyber insurance presents significant challenges. A crucial aspect involves defining success, establishing metrics for measurement, and determining the necessary actions to achieve these goals. Continuously monitoring financial and operational metrics is essential for timely adjustments, ensuring the capture of profitable growth in the cyber mid-market. For further discussion, please contact Carmina Lees and Matthew Madsen.
At first glance, nothing seems too crazy. So, you’re kicking back and relaxing with a little more alcohol than you used to. No biggie. You deserve it. The kids are gone. You have some extra time on your hands. Why not let loose a little more often?
The only problem? Letting loose is killing us.
A study led by Dr. Ibraheem Karaye highlights the narrowing gender gap when it comes to binge drinking and alcohol-related deaths. Not exactly the kind of gender gap we’re trying to close.
The most surprising part? Midlife women are now the fastest-growing segment of binge drinkers.
More specifically: women in midlife who are thriving on the outside. The ones with high incomes, prestigious careers, advanced degrees—and a fridge full of organic produce. These are the women doing yoga, running 10Ks, tracking their steps, buying designer collagen peptides, keeping up with their mammograms… and drinking more than ever before.
So, Why Are We Drinking So Much?
In a word: stress.
The pressure of trying to keep it all together. The transitions that hit hard in midlife: empty nests, divorce, career upheaval, aging parents. And all the feelings that come with them—grief, boredom, loneliness, rage, existential unease.
Alcohol has been sold to us as the perfect cure. Not just acceptable—aspirational. A glass of wine is self-care. A weekend bender is “Mommy’s reward.” It’s become the socially sanctioned way to soothe, celebrate, and survive.
But here’s the problem: you’re trying to feel better, get stronger, sleep more deeply, and finally prioritize yourself—and alcohol is quietly undoing all of that. It disrupts your sleep cycle, spikes your cortisol, slows your metabolism, and robs your body of essential nutrients.
If you’re hitting the gym but still hitting the wine bottle, you’re basically driving with the brakes on.
6 Midlife Drinking Red Flags to Watch For
Red Flag #1: Thinking Any Amount of Alcohol Is Safe
If you’ve been on the fence about exploring your relationship with alcohol, start here. In 2023, the World Health Organization declared that no amount of alcohol is safe for consumption.
Alcohol is classified as a Group 1 carcinogen—right alongside asbestos and tobacco. It’s tied to at least seven types of cancer, including breast cancer. If you’re doing everything else to stay healthy, this fact alone deserves your attention.
Red Flag #2: You’re Drinking to Cope
Or to take the edge off. If alcohol has become one of your go-to coping strategies, it’s time to add new tools to your emotional toolbox.
Drinking to cope is a one-way ticket to dependence. It numbs your senses, preventing you from processing the things you actually need to deal with.
And alcohol doesn’t just mute the hard feelings—it dulls your joy, too. If you’re struggling to feel happiness or connection like you used to, your nightly glass (or bottle) of wine may be playing a role.
Red Flag #3: Your Social Life Revolves Around Alcohol
This one creeps up slowly. And it can be hard to see—because the trees are so thick, you miss the forest entirely.
Alcohol is everywhere now: birthday parties, book clubs, sporting events, charity fundraisers. Look at your social calendar. Is it filled with boozy brunches, happy hours, dinner parties, or nights in with wine on the couch?
Try exploring other ways to connect. Host a dinner party with alcohol-free cocktails. Plan a sunrise hike. Redefine what it means to “catch up.” Stay curious.
Red Flag #4: “Me Time” = Wine Time
Has wine become your reward for time alone?
When my kids were with their dad, or I finally had a night off, I instinctively reached for a bottle. During my divorce, I drank more—and I drank alone. I thought I was soothing myself, but really, I was staying stuck.
Wine didn’t help me heal. It kept me from healing.
Red Flag #5: You’re Binge Drinking Without Knowing It
I used to think binge drinking was for college kids. Beer pong and vodka shots. But for women, binge drinking is defined as 4+ drinks in a single sitting.
That 12-ounce wine glass you fill to the brim? That’s not one drink—it’s almost three.
If your tolerance has crept up, it may be masking how much you’re drinking—and how much it’s affecting your body.
Red Flag #6: Your Workouts Feel Harder Than They Should
Alcohol affects everything: cardiovascular health, motivation, recovery time. It increases inflammation, slows muscle repair, and leaves you sore longer.
If you’re chalking up sluggish workouts or recurring injuries to “just getting older,” it might be time to consider whether alcohol is making your body feel older than it actually is.
So Now What?
If any of these red flags hit a little close to home, take a breath. This isn’t about shame. It’s about power.
Knowing the truth about alcohol gives you the chance to decide what kind of life you want to live—and how strong you want to feel in it.
If you’re curious about cutting back, experiment with a few alcohol-free weeks. Track how your workouts feel, how you sleep, how you show up in your relationships. You might be surprised by what comes back online when alcohol is off the table.—Krysty
Curious about what life can look like alcohol-free? I’m a sobriety coach, and I write about the messy middle of midlife and sober curiosity at krystykrywko.substack.com. Come hang out—or check out purpledogsober.com.
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Your business reputation is more than a feel-good factor — it’s a strategic asset that can propel or derail your growth. One misstep, like a scathing review or a breach of trust, can erode customer confidence, weaken your search engine rankings and stifle referrals.
Conversely, a reputation rooted in integrity can attract loyal clients, inspire your team and fuel organic expansion. As a business owner, actively shaping a trustworthy reputation isn’t just wise — it’s essential for long term success. Here’s how to build a reputation that opens doors and creates opportunities.
A strong reputation starts with values that guide every decision. At my digital marketing agency, our commitment to integrity shapes how we operate, even when it demands tough choices. For instance, we once ended a contract with a high-paying client who consistently disrespected our team, violating our principle of fostering a positive workplace. The financial hit was significant, but the decision strengthened team trust and reinforced our culture. By defining clear values — such as respect, honesty or excellence — and consistently upholding them, you signal to clients and employees that your business stands for something enduring, laying the foundation for a respected reputation.
Rise above challenges with integrity
Encounters with dishonesty, like a client dodging payment or a partner undermining your business, test your commitment to integrity. Early in my career, I connected a client with a contact who later took their business without acknowledgment. Instead of reacting with anger, I chose to move forward, trusting that new opportunities would emerge. This approach, rooted in an abundance mindset, preserves your professionalism and safeguards your reputation. When faced with betrayal or conflict, prioritize your values over short-term wins. By taking the high road, you earn respect from peers and clients, enhancing your standing as a principled leader.
Referrals are a powerful driver of reputation, turning satisfied clients into advocates who bring in new business. Delivering exceptional service to every client maximizes the chance they’ll recommend you to others. Equally important is referring prospects to trusted colleagues when their needs don’t align with your expertise.
For example, directing a client to a better-suited provider may forgo immediate revenue, but it builds goodwill and often leads to reciprocal referrals. Cultivate a network of reliable partners to create a mutually beneficial referral system. This approach not only strengthens your reputation as an honest business but also fosters a cycle of trust that fuels growth.
Elevate your reputation with reviews
Online reviews shape how customers and search engines perceive your business, directly impacting your SEO and credibility. Proactively encourage satisfied clients to leave detailed Google reviews, aiming for at least two per month to maintain a robust online presence.
Providing a direct link simplifies the process, and asking clients to describe their experience incorporates keywords that boost search visibility. Respond to every review — express gratitude for positive feedback and address negative ones with a sincere apology and a commitment to make things right. This engagement demonstrates your dedication to customer satisfaction, reinforcing a reputation for responsiveness and care.
Commit to consistent integrity
A stellar reputation isn’t built overnight — it’s the result of consistent, value-driven actions across all facets of your business. From treating clients with respect to fostering a supportive team environment, every interaction contributes to how others perceive you. Upholding integrity, even when it requires sacrifices like turning away a lucrative but toxic client, creates a ripple effect of trust. This trust translates into loyal customers, motivated employees and a stronger online presence, all of which drive opportunities. To start, choose one actionable step — requesting a client review, refining your referral process or clarifying your values with your team — and implement it this week.
Take action to build your legacy
Your reputation is a living asset that grows with every principled decision. Begin by integrating these strategies into your daily operations: define your values, handle conflicts with grace, nurture referrals and prioritize reviews. These steps don’t require a massive overhaul, but their impact compounds over time, positioning your business as a trusted leader.
The advent of quantum computing represents a fundamental shift in computational capabilities that threatens the cryptographic foundation of modern digital security. As quantum computers evolve from theoretical concepts to practical reality, they pose an existential threat to the encryption algorithms that protect everything from personal communications to national security secrets. Post-quantum cryptography is changing cybersecurity, exposing new weaknesses, and demanding swift action to keep data safe.
The quantum threat is not merely theoretical; experts estimate that cryptographically relevant quantum computers (CRQCs) capable of breaking current encryption may emerge within the next 5-15 years. This timeline has sparked the “Harvest Now, Decrypt Later” (HNDL) strategy, where threat actors collect encrypted data today with the intention of decrypting it once quantum capabilities mature. The urgency of this transition cannot be overstated, as government mandates and industry requirements are accelerating the timeline for post-quantum adoption across all sectors. The US government has established clear requirements through NIST guidelines, with key milestones including deprecation of 112-bit security algorithms by 2030 and mandatory transition to quantum-resistant systems by 2035. The UK has similarly established a roadmap requiring organizations to complete discovery phases by 2028, high-priority migrations by 2031, and full transitions by 2035.
The Quantum Threat Landscape
Understanding Quantum Computing Vulnerabilities
Quantum computers operate on fundamentally different principles than classical computers, utilizing quantum mechanics properties like superposition and entanglement to achieve unprecedented computational power. The primary threats to current cryptographic systems come from two key quantum algorithms: Shor’s algorithm, which can efficiently factor large integers and solve discrete logarithm problems, and Grover’s algorithm, which provides quadratic speedup for brute-force attacks against symmetric encryption.
Current widely-used public-key cryptographic systems including RSA, Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC), and Diffie-Hellman key exchange are particularly vulnerable to quantum attacks. While symmetric cryptography like AES remains relatively secure with increased key sizes, the asymmetric encryption that forms the backbone of modern secure communications faces an existential threat.
Impact on Cryptographic Security Levels
The quantum threat manifests differently across various cryptographic systems. Current expert estimates place the timeline for cryptographically relevant quantum computers at approximately 2030, with some predictions suggesting breakthrough capabilities could emerge as early as 2028. This timeline has prompted a fundamental reassessment of cryptographic security levels:
Algorithm
Based On
Classical Time (e.g., 2048 bits)
Quantum Time (Future)
RSA
Integer Factorization
~10²⁰ years (secure)
~1 day (with 4,000 logical qubits)
DH
Discrete Log
~10²⁰ years
~1 day
ECC
Elliptic Curve Log
~10⁸ years (for 256-bit curve)
~1 hour
*Note: These estimates refer to logical qubits; each logical qubit requires hundreds to thousands of physical qubits due to quantum error correction.
Current Security Protocols Under Threat
Transport Layer Security (TLS)
TLS protocols face significant quantum vulnerabilities in both key exchange and authentication mechanisms. Current TLS implementations rely heavily on elliptic curve cryptography for key establishment and RSA/ECDSA for digital signatures, both of which are susceptible to quantum attacks. The transition to post-quantum TLS involves implementing hybrid approaches that combine traditional algorithms with quantum-resistant alternatives like ML-KEM (formerly CRYSTALS-Kyber).
Performance implications are substantial, with research showing that quantum-resistant TLS implementations demonstrate varying levels of overhead depending on the algorithms used and network conditions. Amazon’s comprehensive study reveals that post-quantum TLS 1.3 implementations show time-to-last-byte increases staying below 5% for high-bandwidth, stable networks, while slower networks see impacts ranging from 32% increase in handshake time to under 15% increase when transferring 50KiB of data or more.
Advanced Encryption Standard (AES)
Quantum computers can use Grover’s algorithm to speed up brute-force attacks against symmetric encryption. Grover’s algorithm provides a quadratic speedup, reducing attack time from 2ⁿ to roughly √(2ⁿ) = 2^(n/2).
AES Key Size
Grover’s Effective Attack
Effective Key Strength
AES-128
~2⁶⁴ operations
Equivalent to 64-bit key
AES-256
~2¹²⁸ operations
Equivalent to 128-bit key
The practical implication is that quantum computers effectively halve the security strength of symmetric encryption algorithms.
IPSec and VPN Technologies
IPSec protocols require comprehensive quantum-resistant upgrades across multiple components. Key exchange protocols like IKEv2 must implement post-quantum key encapsulation mechanisms, while authentication systems need quantum-resistant digital signatures.
Cisco Secure Key Integration Protocol (SKIP) represents a significant advancement in quantum-safe VPN technology. SKIP is an HTTPS-based protocol that allows encryption devices to securely import post-quantum pre-shared keys (PPKs) from external key sources. This protocol enables organizations to achieve quantum resistance without requiring extensive firmware upgrades, providing a practical bridge to full post-quantum implementations.
SKIP uses TLS 1.2 with Pre-Shared Key – Diffie-Hellman Ephemeral (PSK-DHE) cipher suite, making the protocol quantum-safe. The system allows operators to leverage existing Internet Protocol Security (IPSec) or Media Access Control Security (MACsec) while integrating post-quantum external sources such as Quantum Key Distribution (QKD), Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC), pre-shared keys, or other quantum-secure methods. Cisco supports SKIP in IOS-XE.
Vulnerable Cryptographic Algorithms
RSA Encryption
RSA security relies on the difficulty of factoring large semiprime integers (products of two large primes). It is widely used for secure web communication, digital signatures, and email encryption. Asymmetric key exchange systems face significant risk from future quantum threats, as a quantum computer with sufficient quantum bits, along with improvements in stability and performance, could break large prime number factorization. This vulnerability could render RSA-based cryptographic systems insecure within the next decade.
Diffie-Hellman (DH) / DSA / ElGamal
These algorithms are based on the hardness of the discrete logarithm problem in finite fields using modular arithmetic. They are used in key exchange (DH), digital signatures (DSA), and encryption (ElGamal). Shor’s algorithm can break discrete logarithm problems as efficiently as integer factorization. Current estimates suggest that DH-2048 or DSA-2048 could be broken in hours or days on a large quantum computer using approximately 4,000 logical qubits.
Post-Quantum Cryptography Standards
NIST Standardization Process
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has finalized three initial post-quantum cryptography standards:
FIPS 203 (ML-KEM): Module-Lattice-Based Key-Encapsulation Mechanism, derived from CRYSTALS-Kyber, serving as the primary standard for general encryption. ML-KEM defines three parameter sets:
ML-KEM-512: Provides baseline security with encapsulation keys of 800 bytes, decapsulation keys of 1,632 bytes, and ciphertexts of 768 bytes
ML-KEM-768: Enhanced security with encapsulation keys of 1,184 bytes, decapsulation keys of 2,400 bytes, and ciphertexts of 1,088 bytes
ML-KEM-1024: Highest security level with proportionally larger key sizes
FIPS 204 (ML-DSA): Module-Lattice-Based Digital Signature Algorithm, derived from CRYSTALS-Dilithium, intended as the primary digital signature standard. Performance evaluations show ML-DSA as one of the most efficient post-quantum signature algorithms for various applications.
FIPS 205 (SLH-DSA): Stateless Hash-Based Digital Signature Algorithm, derived from SPHINCS+, providing a backup signature method based on different mathematical foundations. While SLH-DSA offers strong security guarantees, it typically involves larger signature sizes and higher computational costs compared to lattice-based alternatives.
Implementation Challenges and Considerations
The transition to post-quantum cryptography presents several significant challenges:
Performance Overhead: Post-quantum algorithms typically require more computational resources than classical cryptographic methods. Embedded systems face particular constraints in terms of computing power, energy consumption, and memory usage. Research indicates that while some PQC algorithms can be more energy-efficient than traditional methods in specific scenarios, the overall impact varies significantly based on implementation and use case.
Key Size Implications: Many post-quantum algorithms require significantly larger key sizes compared to traditional public-key algorithms. For example, code-based KEMs like Classic McEliece have public keys that are several hundred kilobytes in size, substantially larger than RSA or ECC public keys. These larger key sizes increase bandwidth requirements and storage needs, particularly challenging for resource-constrained devices.
Integration Complexity: Implementing post-quantum cryptography requires careful integration with existing security protocols. Many organizations will need to operate in hybrid cryptographic environments, where quantum-resistant solutions are integrated alongside classical encryption methods during the transition period.
MANILA, Philippines — Constrained household savings—as shown by surging credit card debts—could be a “worrying” sign for the Philippines, especially against the backdrop of “stagnating” investments, ANZ Research said.
In a commentary, ANZ said such a condition may suggest that the country is increasingly relying on foreign capital to fund everyday spending of consumers, instead of investing the money in projects that would help grow the economy.
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And the red flags are in the country’s current account balance—which has been in a deficit that, ANZ said, would likely remain elevated at 3.6 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2025.
Latest data showed the country’s current account deficit reached $4.2 billion in the first quarter, equivalent to 3.7 percent of GDP.
From a national accounting perspective, the current account balance is the difference between gross domestic savings and total investments.
ANZ explained that in emerging markets like the Philippines, where there is a strong need to invest in development but limited savings, current account deficits are common.
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These deficits mean the country relies on foreign money to support growth—which can be normal in early development stages.
However, ANZ said that these deficits are sustainable only if the borrowed money is used to boost future income and the ability to repay.
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“In this context, it is notable that although the current account balance is lower for Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines, their investments as a share of GDP have also fallen compared to their prepandemic averages,” ANZ said.
High inflation
“This implies that savings have fallen even more sharply. This is especially worrying for the Philippines as it runs a current account deficit, which has widened in recent years amid stagnating investments,” it added.
ANZ said savings have remained constrained in the region as high inflation in recent years has led to low real income growth.
While inflation has subsided, the bank said wages have not grown sufficiently to offset the impact of higher price levels.
This, ANZ said, is evident in the Philippines, where household savings are “structurally low, driven by a large informal sector, low incomes and limited access to formal saving instruments.”
“Household savings as a share of GDP returned to its prepandemic level in 2024 following three years of dissaving between 2020 and 2022,” the bank said.
“Moreover, a surge in credit card loans in recent years points towards higher stress among households,” it added.
Moving forward, ANZ said it expects this trend to continue.
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“Subdued savings will be offset by moderating investments. However, such a pattern reflects weakness than strength in growth,” it said.
Recent developments in the atmosphere over the Caribbean Sea have led researchers at Colorado State University (CSU) to make slight improvements to their hurricane forecast for the 2025 Atlantic-basin season, in an update published Wednesday.
Triple-I non-resident scholar Phil Klotzbach, Ph.D., a senior research scientist in the Department of Atmospheric Science at CSU, and the CSU TC-RAMS research team are now predicting 16 total named storms through the end of the year, a small drop from their original forecast of 17.
“The primary reason for the slight decrease in our outlook is both observed and predicted high levels of Caribbean wind shear,” Klotzbach said. “High levels of Caribbean shear in June and July are typically associated with less active hurricane seasons.”
Klotzbach warned, however, that peak hurricane season – which typically occurs from mid-August through late October – could still be very active, despite current atmospheric conditions.
“The subtropical eastern Atlantic and portions of the tropical Atlantic are warmer than normal,” he said. “The current Atlantic sea surface temperature pattern is fairly similar to what we typically observe in July prior to active Atlantic hurricane seasons.”
When my wife bought a new Subaru Outback in March, the manufacturer offered special financing at 3.9% APR. We didn’t take it because while we could keep our cash in a money market fund earning 4%, the interest is taxable. The interest paid on the car loan would be after-tax. It would be net-negative if we financed.
2025 Subaru Outback
The new 2025 Trump tax law — One Big Beautiful Bill Act — made car loan interest deductible (with qualifications and limits). Had we known this was coming, we would’ve financed, but we can’t go back now to get a loan and deduct the interest.
Only New Cars Assembled in the U.S.
Not all car loans qualify for the new tax deduction. It must be for a new car, not for a used car. It must be for personal use, not a commercial vehicle.
Both electrical and gasoline-powered vehicles qualify. Cars, minivans, SUVs, pickup trucks, and motorcycles all qualify, but the vehicle must have had its final assembly in the U.S.
My wife’s Subaru Outback would’ve qualified because it was assembled in Indiana. Some brands and models have cars assembled both in the U.S. and outside the U.S. It depends on the specific car you get from the dealership. You can tell by the VIN. A car is assembled in the U.S. if the VIN starts with a 1, 4, or 5.
Timing
The loan must be taken out at the time of purchase after December 31, 2024. Refinancing an existing loan taken out before January 1, 2025 doesn’t count. Taking out a new loan now on a car you already own free and clear doesn’t count either.
We’re disqualified because we already paid cash at the time of purchase.
If your loan qualifies, refinancing it continues to qualify, but the new loan must not exceed the outstanding balance of the previous loan. In other words, no cash-out refi.
Income Limit
You’re allowed to deduct up to $10,000 in car loan interest if your AGI is $100,000 or less ($200,000 or less for married filing jointly). Married filing separately still qualifies. The deduction phases out by 20% as your income goes up toward $150,000 (or $250,000 for married filing jointly).
The $10,000 deduction limit is sufficient for most people. A 5-year loan of $50,000 at 3.9% APR would incur less than $2,000 in interest in the first year and less yet in subsequent years. There’s no limit on the number of cars or any maximum price.
The tables below illustrate how the deduction limit phases out at different income levels. Extrapolate when your income is between the numbers shown in the tables.
Single
AGI
Deduction Limit
$100,000 or less
$10,000
$110,000
$8,000
$120,000
$6,000
$130,000
$4,000
$140,000
$2,000
$150,000
$0
Married Filing Jointly
AGI
Deduction Limit
$200,000 or less
$10,000
$210,000
$8,000
$220,000
$6,000
$230,000
$4,000
$240,000
$2,000
$250,000
$0
Temporary Deduction
If your car purchase qualifies, your timing qualifies, and your income qualifies, you’re allowed to deduct car loan interest up to the limit each year between 2025 and 2028 (inclusive). If you’re planning to buy a new car in 2026, then you have only three years left.
It’s a tax deduction, not a tax credit. Deducting $2,000 in car loan interest reduces your taxable income by $2,000. It reduces your federal income tax by a few hundred dollars, depending on your tax bracket.
The deduction is available to both itemizers and non-itemizers, but it doesn’t lower your AGI. It doesn’t make it easier for you to qualify for other tax deductions or tax credits.
Higher Prices From Tariffs
Not everyone financing a new car purchase qualifies for the tax deduction, but everyone is affected by higher prices from tariffs. Subaru raised prices mid-year shortly after we bought the car. Dealerships also reduced their discount to the MSRP. We would have to pay $4,000 more if we were to buy the same car today.
Paying a higher price costs way more than the tax savings from deducting the interest on a car loan.
***
The headlines say no tax on car loan interest, but this deduction comes with many strings: only new purchases, only new cars and only specific cars, with an income limit, and only in the next few years. We would’ve financed because everything happened to line up, if only we knew. Even though financing and paying cash would be a wash financially, having more cash on hand helps with smoothing out cash flow to stay under the ACA health insurance premium cliff.
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In 2012, when I was coaching the University of Kentucky women’s basketball team, we came in first in the SEC at the end of the season. Our record for the year was 13-3. But we also lost our game against Alabama – the team that finished last that season at 3-13. Worst beat first.
As that old sports adage goes, “On any given night…”
I mean no disrespect to Alabama, but in that particular season I’d rather have been us, no matter the outcome of one game. Fundamentally, whatever rare upset we suffered, our belief in our ability to maintain sustained success didn’t waver. Of course we weren’t happy to have lost against Alabama, but our filters on our thought processes around defeat were healthy.
Real Success Should Never Be Defined By Short-Term Results
Sports upsets happen all the time, whether during the regular season or in championship games. But what makes a great team, whether in sports or in business, is never one single outcome or result, or even a handful of them.
Pause for a moment and think of a recent loss or setback you had in your work life. It could be big or small. Was there something you could have reasonably done to avoid it or some way you could have generated a different outcome? How did you handle it emotionally and how did you think about it? Did you beat yourself up with negative self-talk? Did you let it roll a little too quickly off your back and not take any lesson from it?
The quality that makes a Hall of Famer comes down to a mindset that empowers them to achieve sustained success. They’ve created the habit of mind to always drive toward excellence. Because excellence is their modus operandi – or how they operate, they’re driven to prepare at maximum capacity.
Developing The Right Mindset
One of the key reasons the right mindset is so important is that it keeps you from wasting energy on unproductive activities. Whether your reaction takes the form of a personal pity party or a relentless inward chewing out, you’re robbing yourself of time and energy you could be spending getting ready to win the next time. But in overreacting to setbacks you’re wasting energy focused on the outcome instead of thinking, “What can I do to become better prepared for the next situation?”
Instead of drowning in unproductive negativity, I recommend honestly analyzing a defeat for what you can learn from it. Learning to do this equips you with a valuable tool to improve your performance for the next time. You’ll move onto your next challenge with the confidence gained from a lesson learned, not with pointless self-criticism that leaves you feeling less confident.
If you realize that you have a bad mental filter for how you process defeats, you can change it. You can develop a mindset for sustained success, and the stronger you exercise that mindset, the further you will go.
During the next week or so, pay close attention to the conversation going on in your head while at work or training or playing your sport. Make a conscious effort to look at how you process challenges that arise.
How much time do you spend complaining, either out loud or in your head?
How much time do you spend worrying about circumstances that you can’t control?
Do you frequently think chaotically, as if you’re fighting one brush fire after another?
If these are your mental habits, you’ve convinced yourself that circumstances are outside of your control.
The way out of such victim mentality is to put a stop to your negative thoughts. Interrupt those self-defeating patterns and retrain your brain in new habits.
Develop the mindset needed to succeedthrough these actions:
Decide how to respond. When you start complaining, stop and make a list of what practical changes you could make to respond to the situation.
Focus in on one action. When you catch yourself worrying about circumstances beyond your control, interrupt yourself and ask: What’s one action I could take right now to address my work challenge? And then take that action. Your mind will shift from worry to practical action and will spike your confidence.
Determine tangible solutions.If you find yourself always barraged by problems and continuously fighting fires, ask yourself: How could I categorize these problems and solve them permanently? Cut through temporary solutions and find clarity that allows for genuine progress toward permanent solutions.
Tame the conversation in your head. The content that you feed your mind holds sway over your mindset. Train yourself to notice the content that you’re feeding your brain. If it’s all about complaints and annoyances from external forces, that’s like feeding your brain a steady diet of junk food. Choose to feed your brain in a way that builds the mindset for an unwavering pursuit of excellence.
Mastering your thought process will give you the mindset that lets you crush self-defeating thoughts and keeps you driving in the direction of sustained success.
Author Bio
Matthew Mitchell is a Wall Street Journal and USA Today best-selling author, speaker, three-time SEC Coach of the Year, and the winningest head coach in the history of the University of Kentucky women’s basketball program.
He now coaches the University of Houston’s women’s division 1 basketball team. Mitchell’s new book, Ready to Win:How Great Leaders Succeed Through Preparation (Winning Tools, November 19, 2024) – already a USA Today bestseller – shares proven principles that lead to resilience, preparation, and growth.
Matthew Mitchell is a Wall Street Journal and USA Today best-selling author, speaker, three-time SEC Coach of the Year, and the winningest head coach in the history of the University of Kentucky women’s basketball program.