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Quantum security expert, mathematician and security researcher Dr Mark Carney explains there "Are a few fundamental requirements for QKD to work between Alice and Bob, these being a quantum key exchange protocol to guarantee the key exchange has a level of security, a quantum and classical channel between A and B, and the relevant hardware and control software for A and B to enact the protocol we started with." "They've had a lot of scrutiny, but they are generally considered to be solid protocols," Dr Carney says, "And when you see people claiming that 'quantum key exchange is totally secure and unhackable' there are a few things that are meant: that the key length is good, the protocol can detect someone eavesdropping on the quantum channel and the entropy of the system gives unpredictable keys, and the use of quantum states to encode these means they are tamper-evident."

Preparing for post-quantum cryptography is a paradox: on the one hand, we don't know for sure when, or perhaps even if, a large quantum computer will become available that can break all current public-key cryptography. The NIST report, Getting Ready For Post Quantum Cryptography, covers the development of an inventory and a migration playbook.

Will quantum cryptography mean the end of encryption? How was the FBI able to get bitcoins back in the Colonial Pipeline ransomware case? What is the ALPACA attack, and does it make your browsing less secure? Oh! No! of the week. LISTEN NOW. Click-and-drag on the soundwaves below to skip to any point in the podcast.

IonQ announced the full integration of its quantum computing platform with Cirq, an open-source quantum computing framework from Google. "From its origins, the vision for Cirq was to expand access to quantum computing to even broader audiences," said Dave Bacon, VP of Software at IonQ. "As a developer myself, I know that a smoother, simpler implementation is a better implementation, one that will be more useful in the real world. Volkswagen has shown that developing in Cirq on IonQ has real benefits for real problems faced by development teams."

While the first quantum revolution used principles of quantum mechanics to develop new applications, the second revolution will enable engineers to manage the quantum mechanics themselves, controlling quantum systems at an individual level. The anticipated breakthroughs in quantum computing could define the next hundred years in the same way that the first quantum revolution shaped the 20th century.

The world is one step closer to ultimately secure conference calls, thanks to a collaboration between Quantum Communications Hub researchers and their German colleagues, enabling a quantum-secure conversation to take place between four parties simultaneously. This advance in quantum secured communications could lead to conference calls with inherent unhackable security measures, underpinned by the principles of quantum physics.

The Cambridge Research Laboratory of Toshiba Europe announced a demonstration of quantum communications over optical fibres exceeding 600 km in length. The term quantum internet describes a global network of quantum computers connected by long distance quantum communication links.

Quantum information theory, which has been explored since the beginning of the 20th century, has led to an exciting yet dangerous new prospect: new quantum algorithms to solve computational problems which have thus far proven to be intractable - or at least unachievable within a useful period - by classical computers. Their study, alongside many like it, tells us that quantum technology will present the greatest threat to the security of our critical systems in the history of computing.

Investments in quantum computing are expected to increase in the next 24 months, according to the survey results from IDC. The number of organizations allocating more than 17% of their annual IT budgets for this technology is expected to rise from 7% in 2021 to an estimated 19% in 2023. This growth is due to global enterprises investing in cloud-based platforms that provide access to quantum computing hardware and software, hiring quantum specialists, training quantum developers, and collaborating with quantum vendors to develop new business solutions.

The Republic of Korea took two bold steps into the future on Tuesday, by announcing that the last of its 2G networks will go offline in June and that it will initiate large-scale adoption of communications protected by quantum encryption. The quantum tests will build on demos conducted in 2020, but this time South Korea's government hopes to involve multiple industries and to educate them on the benefits of the tech and how to adopt it.