Tag Archive for: Cryptography

The new frontier in online security: Quantum-safe cryptography

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cryptography
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

A team of experts led by Monash University researchers, in collaboration with Australia’s national science agency CSIRO, has created an algorithm that can help strengthen online transactions that use end-to-end encryption against powerful attacks from quantum computers.

Cryptography researchers from Monash University’s Faculty of Information Technology and CSIRO’s data and digital specialist arm Data61 have developed the most efficient quantum-secure cryptography algorithm, called “LaV,” to enhance the security of end-to-end encryption, with potential application across instant messaging services, data privacy, cryptocurrency and blockchain systems.

End-to-end encryption is a way to secure digital communication between a sender and receiver using encryption keys. Mobile messaging services like WhatsApp and Signal use end-to-end encryption so that no one, including the communication system provider, telecom providers, internet providers or hackers can access the information being transmitted between the sender and the receiver.

It would take millions of years for a normal computer or even a supercomputer to hack into and gain access to data protected by end-to-end encryption. But a large-scale quantum computer could break current encryption within minutes and gain access to encrypted information more easily.

Lead researcher of the collaborative quantum security project, Dr. Muhammed Esgin, said the new cryptography tool will help make end-to-end encryption more secure, so online services can withstand hacks or interference from the most powerful quantum computers in the future.

“While end-to-end encryption protocols are quite well established and are used to secure data and messaging in some of the most popular instant messaging applications across the world, currently they are still vulnerable to more sophisticated attacks by quantum computers,” Dr. Esgin said.

“This new cryptographic tool can be applied to various mobile…

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NIST selects Ascon for lightweight cryptography | SC Media – SC Media

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NIST selects Ascon for lightweight cryptography | SC Media  SC Media

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Do NOT Plug This USB In! – Hak5 Rubber Ducky

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Hack Post-Quantum Cryptography Now So That Bad Actors Don’t Do It Later

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In February, a researcher sent a shock wave through the cryptography community by claiming that an algorithm that might become a cornerstone of the next generation of internet encryption can be cracked mathematically using a single laptop. This finding may have averted a massive cybersecurity vulnerability. But it also raises concerns that new encryption methods for securing internet traffic contain other flaws that have not yet been detected. One way to build trust in these new encryption methods—and to help catch any other weaknesses before they are deployed—would be to run a public contest to incentivize more people to look for weaknesses in these new algorithms.

 The new encryption algorithm that was just cracked was designed to be secure against quantum computers. A large-scale quantum computer may eventually be able to quickly break the encryption used to secure today’s internet traffic. If internet users don’t take any countermeasures, then anyone in possession of such a computer might be able to read all secure online communications—such as email, financial transactions, medical records, and trade secrets—with potentially catastrophic impacts for cybersecurity that the U.S. National Security Agency has described as “devastating to … our nation.”

 One defense against this future threat is post-quantum cryptography or PQC—a set of new cryptography algorithms that are expected to resist attacks from quantum computers. Since 2015, the U.S. National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) has been evaluating algorithms to design a new standard for this type of cryptography, which will likely be adopted eventually by communication systems worldwide. Although quantum computers powerful enough to threaten encryption are unlikely to arrive before 2030, upgrading to PQC will take years and cost billions of dollars. The U.S. government considers the swift and comprehensive adoption of PQC across its own communication systems to be an important national security imperative: Over the past two months, the White House has issued a National Security Memorandum directing all federal agencies to begin preparing for the transition. And related bills have

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