Quantum News Briefs January 31: More the Biden Administration can do to prepare for quantum computing; Kyber Drive: the world’s first & only lattice-based post-quantum disk encryption solution; Fujitsu study says quantum decryption threat still distant + MORE
Quantum News Briefs January 31: More the Biden Administration can do to prepare for quantum computing; Kyber Drive: the world’s first & only lattice-based post-quantum disk encryption solution; Fujitsu study says quantum decryption threat still distant + MORE.
More the Biden Administration can do to prepare for quantum computing
Matthew Mittelsteadt, a technologist and research fellow with the Mercatus Center at George Mason University has authored an article in the cybersecurity section of The Hill calling for the Biden administration to ” ..do more to prepare for quantum computing. ” Quantum News Briefs summarizes below.
Miggelsteadt advised, “We should recognize the government’s transition for what it is: a golden opportunity to learn by doing”.
Today, the federal government represents a quarter of the economy. This suggests that roughly a quarter of IT systems will be preparing for and ultimately transitioning to quantum-resistant cryptography. On its own, such a sizeable sample could undoubtedly provide many lessons for the private sector.
however, this sample is not just large but incredibly diverse. In a 2021 quantum transition white paper, NIST noted that perhaps the greatest challenge will be adapting algorithms to the bespoke needs of each application and industry. The diversity of federal IT can help uncover these industry-specific challenges.
The government should therefore embrace a role as a quantum-security guinea pig. To maximize lessons learned, the administration should specifically promote a laboratory approach. As each agency begins this process, they should be encouraged to test a diversity of practices and solutions, comparing results and reporting challenges. Only through variation can we learn what works.
Crucial to success will be careful documentation. First, agencies should record general implementation best practices. Second, they should note tech-specific challenges.Finally, when it comes time to make updates, agencies should note any beneficial approaches to code and system design. Not all methodologies are created equal, and agencies should recommend what works best.
Neither Congress nor the Biden administration realizes the immensity of this opportunity. There are countless lessons to be learned if the federal government embraces a quantum-security guinea pig role. Click here the read original article in-entirety in The Hill.
Kyber Drive: The World’s First & Only Lattice-Based Post-Quantum Disk Encryption Solution
Companies and governments—including the NSA— are already adopting CRYSTALS-Kyber (Kyber) as a general-purpose post-quantum cryptography replacement for RSA and other classical encryption ciphers. Kyber is a post-quantum Key Encapsulation Mechanism (KEM) being standardized around the world as the future of encryption in a Quantum Era. As a KEM, Kyber is designed to securely establish a shared secret between two parties. Unlike the older and attack-prone AES encryption that dominates critical systems, Kyber can only be used for in-transit encryption. AES on the other hand can be used for both in-transit and at-rest, or disk encryption/file storage.
To address this problem, the team at American Binary introduced an algorithm that allows Kyber to behave like a block cipher while at the same time preserving all existing security proofs/guarantees expected of Kyber. American Security calls this solution Kyber Drive.
Kyber Drive allows Kyber to support file storage and disk encryption. Currently Kyber Drive supports limited file-size use cases. The American Binary team aim to extend Kyber Drive to all use cases before the end of the year. Kyber Drive aims to become the preeminent solution for disk and file encryption, cloud storage, and much more. Click here to read the complete news announcement from American Binary about Kyber Drive.
Fujitsu study says quantum decryption threat still distant
Fujitsu reported that a new study performed on its 39-qubit quantum simulator suggests it will remain difficult for quantum computers to crack RSA cryptography for years to come, according to a January 23 HPCWire article by John Russell. Quantum News Briefs summarizes below.
Working with a version of Shor’s algorithm, Fujitsu researchers reported that a fault-tolerant quantum computer with a scale of approximately 10,000 qubits and 2.23 trillion quantum gates would be required to crack RSA – vastly beyond the most advanced quantum computers in the world today. Researchers further estimated that it would be necessary to conduct fault-tolerant quantum computation for about 104 days to successfully crack RSA.
The latest work investigating Shor’s algorithm was performed on Fujitsu’s quantum simulator; that system leverages technology developed for Japan’s Fugaku supercomputer (number two on the latest Top500 List) and specialized qubit-handling technology.
It’s now taken as a given that when sufficiently large fault-tolerant quantum computers become available, Shor’s algorithm will be able to quickly decrypt today’s factoring-based encryption schemes, including RSA. Last summer the National Institute of Technology and Standards (NIST), released its first set of new algorithms to replace current RSA methods. Many warn that bad actors are now engaged in so-called Store Now/Decrypt Later strategies.
There is swirling debate around how soon NISQ (noisy intermediate scale quantum) computers or non-gate-based quantum annealing approaches will be able to decrypt RSA data. Click here to read extensive article in-entirety.
TRUMPF Venture makes multimillion euro investment in quantum tech startup Quside
TRUMPF Venture is making a multimillion euro investment in the Spanish startup Quside. Quantum News Briefs summarizes.
The company’s core product is a high performance random number generator located in a photonic chip. Using the quantum mechanical properties of light, it produces completely random number combinations very quickly (Gb/s). This makes it possible to improve the encryption of messages enormously. It can also be used to perform simulations such as risk analyses in the financial sector or weather forecasts much faster and with far greater energy-efficiency. The chip is compatible with common semiconductor manufacturing (CMOS), which enables easy mass production.
Quside is based in Castelldefels near Barcelona and currently employs around 30 people. Founded in 2018, the startup’s first customers are from sectors with high security requirements, such as aerospace. The company plans to expand into the consumer market in the coming years, to use chips to increase the security of smartphones, tablets or even vehicles.
Quside’s chip enables the encryption of messages that even computationally powerful quantum computers cannot decrypt. In addition to encryption, Quside’s random number generator also enables a faster and more energy-efficient calculation of simulations. Click here for complete news announcement.
Sandra K. Helsel, Ph.D. has been researching and reporting on frontier technologies since 1990. She has her Ph.D. from the University of Arizona.
