MIT & TII Report: Facing tomorrow’s quantum hackers today

(MIT) MIT, in collaboration with Abu Dhabi’s Technology Innovation Institute has issued an excellent report “Facing tomorrow’s quantum hackers today” available here in a 23 page PDF by clicking link. Inside Quantum Technology introduces and summarizes this important document below and encourages our readers to review the report.

As quantum technology continues to advance, one dark cloud lurks on the horizon. Hackers could one day use this processing power to break public-key cryptography systems, which form the basis for today’s secure interactions over the Internet, as well as other systems such as public-key infrastructure, code-signing systems, secure email, and key-management systems. Experts warn this is a major threat to modern digital security that needs to be tackled now. “It will completely break these crypto systems,” says Dustin Moody, a mathematician at US-based National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).
Post-quantum cryptography is emerging as an efficient and effective solution to defend against such quantum attacks. This solution is a set of new cryptographic algorithms, in particular public-key algorithms, that can be implemented using today’s classical computers.
Companies and organizations cannot afford to wait and see how the quantum-computing landscape evolves. “The cost will blow up if it is adopted after quantum computers are established,” says Jung Hee Cheon, professor of mathematics at Seoul National University in South Korea. Given the high stakes, a proactive, rather than reactive, stance toward such threats is crucial.

The proactive steps recommended in the “Facing Tomorrow’s Quantum Hackers Today” report include:

Enterprises and organizations need to make their data and cyber systems resistant to quantum-based attacks now.

A hybrid transition might be a good stepping stone.

It takes a village.