| • | | influence by, or competition from, third parties with respect to pending, new, or existing contracts with government customers; |
| • | | changes in legal obligations or political or social attitudes with respect to security or data privacy issues; |
| • | | potential delays or changes in the government appropriations or procurement processes, including as a result of events such as war, incidents of terrorism, natural disasters, and public health concerns; and |
| • | | increased or unexpected costs or unanticipated delays caused by other factors outside of our control. |
Any such event or activity, among others, could cause governments and governmental agencies to delay or refrain entering into contracts with us and/or purchasing our computers in the future, reduce the size or timing of payment with respect to our services to or purchases from existing or new government customers, or otherwise have an adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition, and growth prospects.
If our information technology systems, data, or physical facilities where our quantum computers are stored, or those of third parties upon which we rely, are or were compromised, we could experience adverse business consequences resulting from such compromise.
In the ordinary course of business, we collect, receive, store, process, generate, use, transfer, disclose, make accessible, protect, secure, dispose of, transmit, and share (collectively, “Processing”) personal data and other sensitive information, including intellectual property, proprietary and confidential business data, trade secrets, sensitive third-party data, business plans, transactions, and financial information of our own, our partners, our customers, or other third parties (collectively, “Sensitive Data”).
We and the third parties upon which we rely may process Sensitive Data, and, as a result, we and the third parties upon which we rely face a variety of evolving threats to our information technology systems, data, or physical facilities where our quantum computers are stored, including but not limited to ransomware attacks, which could cause security incidents. Cyber-attacks, malicious internet-based activity, online and offline fraud, and other similar activities threaten the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of our Sensitive Data and information technology systems, and those of the third parties upon which we rely. Such threats are prevalent and continue to rise, are increasingly difficult to detect, and come from a variety of sources, including traditional computer “hackers,” threat actors, “hacktivists,” organized criminal threat actors, personnel (such as through theft or misuse), sophisticated nation states, and nation-state-supported actors. U.S. law enforcement agencies have indicated to us that quantum computing technology is of particular interest to certain threat actors, including nation state and other malicious actors, who may steal our Sensitive Data, including our intellectual property or other proprietary or confidential information, including our trade secrets.
Some actors now engage and are expected to continue to engage in cyber-attacks, including without limitation nation-state and nation-state-supported actors for geopolitical reasons and in conjunction with military conflicts and defense activities. During times of war and other major conflicts, we, the third parties upon which we rely, and our customers may be vulnerable to a heightened risk of these attacks, including retaliatory cyber-attacks, that could materially disrupt our systems and operations, supply chain, and ability to distribute our services.
We and the third parties upon which we rely may be subject to a variety of evolving threats, including but not limited to social-engineering attacks (including through phishing attacks), malicious code (such as viruses and worms), malware (including as a result of advanced persistent threat intrusions), denial-of-service attacks (such as credential stuffing), credential harvesting, personnel misconduct or error, ransomware attacks, supply-chain attacks, software bugs, server malfunctions, software or hardware failures, loss of data or other information technology assets, adware, telecommunications failures, earthquakes, fires, floods, and other similar threats.
In particular, severe ransomware attacks are becoming increasingly prevalent and could lead to significant interruptions in our operations, loss of Sensitive Data and income, reputational harm, and diversion of funds.
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