Quantum-enhanced keys on demand add security against cyberattacks

(Embedded) A new commercially available quantum-enhanced, cloud-hosted key generation platform is now available to deliver cryptographic keys derived from the output of a quantum computer and ensure data is protected at foundational level against evolving cyberattacks.
The new service, Quantum Origin, uses the unpredictable nature of quantum mechanics to generate cryptographic keys seeded with verifiable quantum randomness from Quantinuum’s H-Series quantum computers, Powered by Honeywell. (Quantinuum is the company formed from the combination of Honeywell Quantum Solutions and Cambridge Quantum). It supports traditional algorithms, such as RSA or AES, as well as post-quantum cryptography algorithms currently being standardized by the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST).
Cambridge Quantum said that Quantum Origin is the first commercial product built using a noisy, intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) computer and has been built to secure the world’s data from both current and advancing threats to current encryption. The cryptographic keys generated by Quantum Origin can be integrated into existing systems.
Randomness is critical to securing current security solutions as well as protecting systems from the future threat of quantum attacks. These attacks will further weaken deterministic methods of random number generation, as well as methods that are not verifiably random and from a quantum source.
These keys are then simple and easy to integrate within customers’ existing systems because they’re provided in a format that can be consumed by traditional cybersecurity systems and hardware. This end-to-end approach ensures key generation is on-demand and is capable of scaling with use, all while remaining secure.
With Quantum Origin, when an organization requires quantum-enhanced keys to be generated, it can now make a call via an API. Quantum Origin generates the keys before encrypting them with a transport key and securely relaying them back to the organization. To give organizations a high-level of assurance that their encryption keys are as unpredictable as possible, Quantum Origin tests the entire output from the quantum computers, ensuring that each key is seeded from verifiable quantum randomness.

Quantum Origin keys can be used in any scenario where there is a need for strong cybersecurity. At launch, Cambridge Quantum is offering Quantum Origin to financial services companies and vendors of cybersecurity products before expanding into other high priority sectors, such as telecommunications, energy, manufacturing, defense and government.