Cryptography has long been essential in ensuring the protection of data and communication networks.
Remaining reliant on outdated cryptographic standards certainly adds to the dangers of compromise.
As we usher in an era of cloud-scaling and quantum technologies, the stakes are raised even higher.
With regulations such as CCPA, DORA, GDPR, HIPAA, PCI, SOX, and others in play, organizations face the need to evolve or risk breaches that could seriously compromise their operations.
The limits of PKE. For almost five decades, public key encryption has been the standard-bearer for digital data protection.
Its architecture, which relies on the exchange of public and private keys to encrypt and decrypt data, has been generally effective.
The decryption key often travels alongside the data it's meant to protect.
With quantum computers' potential to disrupt this system, our current data safety has become an illusion in a future where traditional computing will no longer be adequate, with many thinking of it in the same way we might have viewed mobile phones of the early 90s. Think about it.
Even if data is protected with PKE today, it can be copied and stored, waiting for the day when a more powerful computer is able to decrypt it.
Adding impetus to the change is the fact that quantum computers have already demonstrated their ability to break PKE. A conventional computer would need 300 trillion years to break RSA encryption, which many see as the gold standard for PKE. A quantum computer can do it in 10 seconds.
A shift is happening that has been dubbed one of the most extensive cryptographic transitions in the history of computing - moving from the well-established PKE to the emergent post-quantum cryptography.
The federal government is currently planning the upgrade of digital networks with post-quantum cryptographic standards as outlined in a May 2022 national security memorandum, anticipating the arrival of a fault-tolerant quantum computer.
Last year, the National Institute for Standards and Technology shortlisted quantum-safe encryption algorithms to preempt the quantum threat.
That's a long time to become fully secure in a quantum world.
Using PQC, QKD, QRNG, or even different combinations will ensure organizations are no longer reliant on any single encryption method.
Recent innovations like the Quantum Xchange CipherInsights tool can provide a strategic advantage.
Beyond this, organizations must continually undertake extensive risk assessments if they're to navigate the quantum future effectively.
Here, we refer to solutions like symmetric algorithms with key sizes under 256 bits or traditional asymmetric cryptography.
Throughout his career in investment banking and corporate advisory, Zervigon has amassed an impressive track-record working with management teams to craft, refine, and execute winning business plans; hire highly effective teams; and lead successful investment monetization via sale or IPO. As a Managing Director in the Principal Investments Group at Morgan Stanley from 1997-2012, Zervigon was responsible for technology, media and entertainment and energy investments throughout Latin America and the U.S. He has been a Special Advisor at Riverside Management Group, a boutique merchant bank, since 2012 and currently sits on the board of directors at Bloom Energy and Maxar Technologies.
Eddy can be reached online at our company website Quantum Xchange.
This Cyber News was published on www.cyberdefensemagazine.com. Publication date: Fri, 15 Mar 2024 17:13:05 +0000