Tag Archive for: Quantum

Quantum hacking is a looming privacy threat. Companies should start worrying now

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Now that everyone else has had a turn, quantum hackers are coming for your data.

Well, not quite yet. But they’re working on it.

Quantum computers, which are still in development by players such as Google, IBM, and Microsoft, hold enormous promise to do good as well as harm. The U.S. and Chinese governments are pouring billions into them.

For a primer on this new breed, I turned to Martin Lee, technical lead of security research and EMEA lead at Cisco Talos, the networking giant’s threat intelligence and response group.

Traditional computers operate on binary digits, or bits, that are either one or zero. In a quantum machine, “the bits are one, zero, or everything in between, all at the same time,” Lee says. So it “has the possibility of being able to calculate and consider many different solutions to a problem all at the same time to find the correct answer.”

That’s ideal for calculating the shapes of proteins to discover new drugs, Lee notes, or the thermodynamics of an engine.

It’s also perfect for stealing data.

Because a quantum computer makes calculating the factors of prime numbers much easier, it could swiftly crack many existing encryption algorithms, Lee says.

How soon? Maybe next year, maybe in five years, or maybe never, Lee reckons. But it’s time to start considering the problem so it doesn’t become an emergency, he warns. “Certainly, CIOs and CTOs need to think about ‘How do we prepare for a post-quantum world?’”

In response, companies are already developing and deploying quantum security. One is QuSecure, a California startup whose clients include Cisco, Dell, and the U.S. military.

Hackers are harvesting data now for quantum decryption later, says cofounder, chief product officer, and CTO Rebecca Krauthamer. Prime targets include electronic health and financial records, as well as national security data, Krauthamer adds. “All those kinds of things, they have a shelf life, and that’s why for some sectors, it’s a very urgent problem.”

To ward off quantum attacks, you fight fire with fire, right? Actually, no.

QuSecure’s software sits atop a client’s existing encryption, explains Skip Sanzeri, cofounder, chair, and COO. Besides some…

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Scientists install encryption shield to protect advanced Chinese quantum computer from attack

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The new methods are to replace the conventional public-key cryptography system, which could be vulnerable in the face of quantum computers with powerful computing capabilities.

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China denies accusations of state-sponsored hacking from US, UK and New Zealand

China denies accusations of state-sponsored hacking from US, UK and New Zealand

The report quoted Dou Menghan, deputy director of the Anhui Quantum Computing Engineering Research Centre, as saying the “anti-quantum attack shield” was developed and used for the first time by Origin Quantum, the developer of the computer named after the Monkey King of Chinese mythology.

“This shows that China’s home-grown superconducting quantum computer can play both offence and defence in the field of quantum computing,” he said.

“This is also an important exploration of the application of new data security technologies in China.”

Origin launched its first superconducting quantum computer in 2020. The next year, the company delivered the 24-qubit Wuyuan second-generation machine – the country’s first practical quantum computer – making China the third country capable of delivering a complete quantum computing system after Canada and the United States.

The third-generation Wukong is powered by a 72-qubit home-grown superconducting quantum chip, also known as the Wukong chip.

In January, the superfast computer opened remote access to the world, attracting global users from countries such as the US, Bulgaria, Singapore, Japan, Russia and Canada to perform quantum computing tasks.

In traditional computing, a bit is the basic unit of information that represents either zero or one. A quantum bit, or qubit, takes it a step further by being able to represent zero, one, or both simultaneously.

Lawmaker urges China to safeguard tech production chain for a quantum edge

Because quantum computers can simultaneously represent multiple possibilities, they hold theoretical potential for significantly faster and more powerful computation compared to the everyday computers we use now.

But the subatomic particles central to this technology are fragile, short-lived and prone to errors if exposed to minor disturbances from the surroundings. Most…

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Apple buffs up iMessage security with quantum computer-proof encryption

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iMessage on an Android phone

Dhruv Bhutani / Android Authority

TL;DR

  • Apple is creating a new form of encryption for iMessage.
  • This new layer of encryption aims to prevent harvest now, decrypt later attacks.

Today’s encryption is good enough to defend against most encryption cracking attempts. But will today’s encryption hold up when pitted against more powerful computers in the future? Apple is not waiting to find out and is updating the security protocol for its messaging app to handle attacks from quantum computers.

According to Bloomberg, Apple is introducing a new form of encryption meant for iMessage called PQ3 cryptographic protocol. This new encryption layer will work alongside the company’s existing encryption tools.

PQ3 was designed to prevent what’s known as harvest now, decrypt later attacks. This is an attack where the perpetrator — like a nation-state hacker — extracts as much encrypted data as they can get. They then sit on that data, waiting for a future when quantum computers are powerful and reliable enough to crack the encryption.

The day when quantum computers become capable enough to tear through most encryption is referred to by experts as “Q-day.” There’s no agreement on when Q-day will arrive, with some believing it could happen in the coming decades. Given that Apple is taking this precaution now suggests that the company believes this day will come sooner than later.

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Apple’s iMessage gains industry-leading quantum security

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Apple is preparing for future threats to iMessage by introducing upgraded encryption for its messaging service by using quantum computers.

Think of it as state-of-the-art quantum security for messaging at scale, the company says, resulting in Apple’s messaging system being more secure against both current and future foes.

What is the protection?

Announced on Apple’s Security Research blog, the new iMessage protection is called PQ3 and promises the “strongest security properties of any at-scale messaging protocol in the world.”

The rationale behind this protection is “What if?”

In this case, Apple’s security teams asked themselves what might happen if hackers, criminals, or state-backed rogue surveillance firms gathered vast quantities of encrypted iMessage data today in order to break that encryption using quantum computers tomorrow.

Apple calls this a Harvest Now, Decrypt Later attack. The new security protocol is designed to help protect against this.

How likely are such attacks?

These attacks are less likely today than they might become. It is widely accepted that quantum computers will be capable of cracking the classical public key cryptography  such as RSA, Elliptic Curve signatures, and Diffie-Hellman key exchange in use today.

Apple explains:

“All these algorithms are based on difficult mathematical problems that have long been considered too computationally intensive for computers to solve, even when accounting for Moore’s law. However, the rise of quantum computing threatens to change the equation. A sufficiently powerful quantum computer could solve these classical mathematical problems in fundamentally different ways, and therefore — in theory — do so fast enough to threaten the security of end-to-end encrypted communications.”

In truth, quantum computers are expensive, which means their use is largely limited to only the world’s most powerful entities. But as more are made and costs decline, they will proliferate — and if Apple is considering the potential threat, then threat actors of various stripes will also be exploring the possibility.

The security industry is getting ready

Apple isn’t alone. The cryptographic…

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