What does quantum computing mean for the world’s best security systems?

Quantum computers are on the rise, with increasing numbers of well-funded start-ups (e.g. Regetti), big businesses (like Intel, Google, and Microsoft) significantly investing in to development, and bigger breakthroughs at an increasingly faster rate.

The world of information security should be taking notice as current public key cryptography is in danger. Efficient quantum algorithms are known to crack the underlying problems behind RSA and elliptic curve, and, as highlighted in the Times this past week, this problem is becoming more mainstream than ever before. In a surprising move a little over a year ago, the US NSA declared that the algorithms it had insisted were the best way to lock up secret data just weren’t safe anymore; no longer recommending a change to elliptic curve, but instead, preparation for quantum resistant algorithms.

KETS CTO, Philip Sibson commented: “Post-Quantum algorithms are analogous to modern public key crypto, but instead of finding mathematical problems that are not only hard for a classical computer to solve, they must also be inefficient for a quantum computers as well. This approach will certainly be adopted for many security applications, but with quantum computers in their infancy and much still to be understood about their computational power, these techniques suffer from greater uncertainty about their claims of security, with many proposed solutions being retracted after efficient algorithms are found to crack them (e.g. GCHQ’s Soliloquy public-key cryptosystem).

Quantum resistant security, doesn’t just have to be software, and can benefit from our hardware based technologies. Quantum random numbers can strengthen algorithmic security, providing a solid foundation from truly random and unpredictable numbers and quantum key distribution (QKD) can share the most secure symmetric digital keys for security protocols like encryption. We are using the properties of quantum mechanics to fight the threats that quantum technologies pose.”

This step towards improved levels of security is crucial in the coming years. Quantum computers are coming, and purport to break our current encryption with ease. Critical infrastructure, industrial IoT, and network security are under greater and greater stress to provide robust and reliable services.

Contact us today (enquiry@kets-quantum.com) to find out more about our technology and the solutions we can provide to counter the quantum computers of the near future.