Security News
The world is one step closer to having a totally secure internet and an answer to the growing threat of cyber-attacks, thanks to a team of international scientists who have created a multi-user quantum communication network which could transform how we communicate online. The invention led by the University of Bristol has the potential to serve millions of users, is understood to be the largest-ever quantum network of its kind, and could be used to secure people's online communication, particularly in these internet-led times accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The carrier conducted trials ahead of 5G launches and says it is one of the first to pilot QKD in the US. Verizon on Thursday made two announcements related to security. The first involves a series of successful trials to future proof its 5G network against security threats and to implement advanced security measures to protect the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of Verizon's 5G network, the company said.
We talked to Professor Frank Wailhelm-Mauch, a theoretical physicist working on quantum computing and head of the quantum solid state research group at Saarland University. The potential of quantum computing can be seen by comparing it to classical computing.
Two UCLA computer scientists have shown that existing compilers, which tell quantum computers how to use their circuits to execute quantum programs, inhibit the computers' ability to achieve optimal performance. The computer scientists created a family of benchmark quantum circuits with known optimal depths or sizes.
Amazon Web Services, an Amazon.com company, announced the general availability of Amazon Braket, a fully managed AWS service that provides a development environment to help customers explore and design quantum algorithms. Customers can use Amazon Braket to test and troubleshoot quantum algorithms on simulated quantum computers running on computing resources in AWS to help them verify their implementation.
Sectigo announced the launch of Sectigo Quantum Labs to help organizations prepare for the time when quantum computers render existing standard encryption algorithms obsolete. As part of the company's quantum initiative, Sectigo has partnered with ISARA Corporation, a leading provider of crypto-agile quantum-safe security solutions, to provide enterprises with tools for issuing quantum-safe certificates for users, applications, servers, DevOps, code, and more.
PQShield, a spin-out from the UK's Oxford University, is developing advanced cryptographic solutions for hardware, software and communications to protect businesses' data from the quantum threat. All stored data currently deemed secure by modern standards - whether that's health records, financial data, customer databases and even critical government infrastructure - could, in theory, be cracked by quantum computers, which are capable of effectively short circuiting the encryption we've used to protect that data until now.
Japan is poised to start work on global quantum key distribution service and associated infrastructure. Quantum Communications Link Technology that realizes high-speed, long-distance, and high-availability links in quantum cryptographic communication networks;.
Crucial steps toward building such an internet are already underway in the Chicago region, which has become one of the leading global hubs for quantum research. One of the hallmarks of quantum transmissions is that they are exceedingly difficult to eavesdrop on as information passes between locations.
This "Selection round" will help the agency decide on the small subset of these algorithms that will form the core of the first post-quantum cryptography standard. "At the end of this round, we will choose some algorithms and standardize them," said NIST mathematician Dustin Moody.