Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
Toggle light / dark theme

Blog

Category: encryption

NICE.

The Science

Newswise — Quantum computers — a possible future technology that would revolutionize computing by harnessing the bizarre properties of quantum bits, or qubits. Qubits are the quantum analogue to the classical computer bits “0” and “1.” Engineering materials that can function as qubits is technically challenging. Using supercomputers, scientists from the University of Chicago and Argonne National Laboratory predicted possible new qubits built out of strained aluminum nitride. Moreover, the scientists showed that certain newly developed qubits in silicon carbide have unusually long lifetimes.

The Impact

Quantum computers could break common cryptography techniques, search huge datasets, and simulate quantum systems in a fraction of the time it would take today’s computers. However, engineers first need to harness the properties of quantum bits. Engineering new qubits with less difficult methods could lower one of the significant barriers to scaling quantum computers from small prototypes into larger-scale technologies.

Read more

Nice read on QC cryptography.

Between Russian hackers and insecure email servers, this past election has proved that cyber security is going to be extremely important moving forward. But with the advent of quantum computers, it’s only going to become harder to keep data safe from those with the motive and the right tools. Fortunately, scientists believe they may have found a solution within the same principles that guide quantum computing: quantum encryption.

To fully understand the scope of what quantum computers can do, it’s important to realize that it might take current, non-quantum computers longer than the total age of the universe to crack certain encryptions. But, as grad student Chris Pugh explained in a recent interview with Wired, quantum computers might be able to crack the same codes in “a matter of hours or days”.

The magic of quantum encryption is that, despite being based on similar principles, quantum computers can’t interfere with it—i n theory, nothing can. Using quantum entanglement (what Einstein called ‘spooky action at a distance’), methods like quantum key distribution can encode data in particles sort of like Morse code or a binary bit, then send them. These particles are ‘entangled,’ which means each one has been paired with a double, which resides in the hands of the sender. This is where the magic happens, according to PopSci:

Read more

Hmmmm.

Computers based on quantum mechanics have been in the realm of science fiction for years, but recently companies like Google (Nasdaq: GOOGL), and even the National Security Agency, have started to think practically about what their existence would mean.

These super-powerful computers would be exciting in many respects, but they would also be able to break the methods of data encryption that currently make it safe to browse the internet or pay for things online.

Read more

Want to take someone’s site down and need a cheap hacker; well the Dark Web has them.

In the lawless digital hinterlands of the dark web, hackers hire out their expertise for just £20, offering to cripple websites with an overload of data from ready-made “botnet” armies.

On hidden forums, accessible only by using encrypted technology, clients tout for their services, bidding to have cybercriminals perform all manner of illegal activities, such as compromising university systems to alter grades.

Daniel Smith, a former hacker working for the online security company Radware, gave The Times a tour of the sites and services available via encrypted browsers on the dark web.

Read more

QC in the mainstream is definitely viable less than 7 yrs. and possible within 5 yrs. However, I have a friend who even believes we’re looking at 3 years.

Internet security, once considered to be strictly in the domain of the wonkiest tech experts, has become central to public discourse over the past year. Besides the attacks on the DNC, even tech savvy business like Snapchat, Oracle and Verizon Enterprise Solutions have had significant breaches in the last year.

For the most part, these attacks were preventable. Often, hackers use a technique called social engineering, to trick people into allowing them into a system. Other times, they exploit a vulnerability in software to give them access to confidential data. In most cases, more stringent procedures can prevent attacks.

However, there is a more serious crisis coming. In five to ten years, we are likely to see quantum computers that are so powerful that they are able to break even the strongest encryption in use today. That means that soon, even our most vital and well protected data will be at risk. So if you want to protect your businesses, you should start preparing now.

Read more

Has anyone besides NSA, NIST, DARPA, IARPA, etc. realize and thought about what type of cyber warfare will exist in a QC world? The skillsets alone will be so far advance than the techies that we have seen in most companies today as well as in most government agencies. Granted we’re simplifying things with the platform; however, skillsets will still need to be more advance than what we have seen with the standard techie.

Members of the cryptography community have expressed interest in the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s (NIST) recent call for an algorithm less susceptible to hacks from a computer that does not exist yet.

NIST announced a call for proposals for post-quantum cryptography standardization on Dec. 20. One or more of the proposed algorithms will ultimately replace some of NIST’s cryptographic standards that are most vulnerable to quantum computers. According to Dustin Moody, a mathematician at NIST, 40 people have joined the agency’s online cryptography forum since the call was announced two weeks ago. The forum had about 200 members before the call went out. Moody said that many people were anticipating the announcement, as cryptography enthusiasts tend to run in the same circles.

“Most people who are interested in the field already knew about it,” Moody said. “The call wasn’t a surprise.”

Read more

Federal agencies of the US government are expanding their calls for quantum computing resistant encryption methods. In effect, the National Institute of Standards (NIST) recently announced a request for public-key post-quantum algorithms. This action follows warnings from the National Security Agency (NSA) about the risks of potential quantum-based cyberattacks and the NSA’s appeal for developing post-quantum algorithms.

Also read: New Developments in Quantum Computing Impact Bitcoin

Moreover, in the near future, it might possible for anyone to manipulate the awesome power of quantum computing. The astronomical price of a quantum computer would not be a limitation because, for example, IBM is offering to the general public quantum computing via the cloud.

Read more

https://youtube.com/watch?v=eXaO3fmwVPw

More believers; loving it!

Video by: Jan-Henrik Kulberg

As we continue to conduct more of our transactions online, consumers, companies and governments put their faith in encryption to protect their private and sensitive data. Once quantum computing becomes a reality, our current encryption methods will quickly become obsolete as quantum computers will be able to easily crack them.

With companies and governments investing heavily in quantum computing, it seems that a fully functioning quantum computer will become a reality in the not too distant future. A machine like that would have no problem cracking the encryption methods used across the Internet today.

Quantum computers will make today’s internet insecure. Therefore, we should consider replacing the current infrastructure now according to Dr. Vadim Makarov. He heads the Quantum Hacking Lab at the Institute for Quantum Computing at the University of Waterloo in Canada.

Read more

What’s next? Nanocavities in a diamond for small devices.

Researchers have developed a new type of light-enhancing optical cavity that is only 200 nanometers tall and 100 nanometers across. Their new nanoscale system represents a step toward brighter single-photon sources, which could help propel quantum-based encryption techniques under development.

Quantum encryption techniques, which are seen as likely to be central to future data encryption methods, use individual photons as an extremely secure way to encode data. A limitation of these techniques has been the ability to emit photons at high rates. “One of the most important figures of merit for single-photon sources is brightness — or collected photons per second — because the brighter it is, the more data you can transmit securely with quantum encryption,” said Yousif Kelaita of Stanford University.

In the journal Optical Materials Express, from The Optical Society (OSA), Kelaita and his colleagues show that their new nanocavity significantly increased the emission brightness of quantum dots — nanometer-scale semiconductor particles that can emit single photons.

Read more