Quantum computing It’s a technology that has been repeatedly talked about as just around the corner, although many are unable to specify when exactly it will appear. Although its uncertain date has allowed CISOs to hit the road, experts have announced that there is little time left to find a way to reduce quantum power.
Talking with ITPro, Colin Soutar MD of consulting and financial advisory at Deloitte & Touche LLP, says the biggest problem for organizations right now is that there is no set date. in private suitable quantum computers can be developed.
“There’s a big problem with this, in terms of getting on the radar of business professionals and IT professionals,” he says.
Quantum computers can complete tasks much faster than the computers we have today. While this will bring many benefits, it will also mean that it will be easier to crack more encryption algorithms which currently keeps global data safe.
With no clear indication of when businesses will be attacked by quantum techniques, many organizations are prioritizing other cybersecurity concerns. Soutar says he likes to take a different approach when talking to clients about implementation, citing studies being conducted by Michele Mosca, co-founder of the Institute for Quantum Computing (IQC).
Mosca’s research shows a 6% chance of quantum computing becoming a reality in the next five years, or 10% in the next decade.
As a result, Soutar said he likes to describe the approach of quantum computing more often than not as a last possibility – in other words, it’s very likely to happen.
“At Deloitte, as a company, [we] he likes to push that aside a little bit and put it this way: if you accept that there is a reasonable possibility that a cryptographically connected computer will be around, say, in the next five or ten years. How long will it take you to upgrade your hardware, third-party dependencies, supply chain, etc.? Eight, ten, twelve years?”
In this way, Soutar encourages companies to start preparing for quantum computing now, so that they are ready when the breakthroughs in space inevitably happen.
IDC images 2024 CEO Survey it shows that large sectors of the industry heeded the warnings of experts and became interested in post-quantum cryptography.
More than a fifth of respondents (21%) said they are already implementing solutions, and 36% said they have started planning for post-quantum cryptography adoption but are still taking a wait-and-see approach.
But 31% of CIOs said they haven’t taken any steps to prepare for quantum threats, while 13% admitted they don’t know about post-quantum cryptography.
The magnitude of this threat cannot be underestimated, Soutar warns. The problem is that many of the algorithms used to store secure data, such as Rivest-Shamir-Adleman (RSA), were not designed with quantum systems in mind. The RSA algorithm generates a public key by multiplying two prime numbers with a private key that is secure and can be used to encrypt public keys.
The public key can be effectively distributed knowing that only the recipient – who has the private key – can encrypt the information sent. This is because the time it would take to crack a 2048-bit RSA key could take billions or trillions of years, depending on how many combinations a normal computer has to go through.
But quantum computers can run algorithms that can use a private key using a public key.
“The whole purpose of trust in the Internet between any two entities, whether they are machines or people or organizations, all this trust is based on mutual authentication, the ability to share information that can be verified as. being from the owner or provider of the information,” said Soutar.
“Quantum computers, if they become this fundamental computer, will attack the very foundations of what we see today in terms of trust, and trust in all digital transactions.”
NIST images release of three post-quantum encryption algorithms summer has increased the number of research firms investing in the region. The new algorithms are specifically designed to be as difficult to disrupt for mass computing as they are for traditional computers and are being shared along with instructions on how businesses can use them.
How businesses can prepare for quantum computing
Soutar says Results ITPro that business leaders, and CIOs in particular, need to appreciate the magnitude of this risk and invest in risk management.
“You have to start understanding the scale of the problem and start developing strategies, especially leadership around this to know who in the organization is at risk,” he advises.
Speaking at the post-quantum cryptography panel at Venafi’s Annual Identity Summit in Boston, Carl Mehner, security business architect at insurance company USAA, explained what quantum planning means to him.
Mehener said leaders need to understand where each of their assets are right now, be interested in the alternatives they have, and lay the groundwork to turn these around. This, he explained, would allow for a quick and flexible response when further changes are needed along the line.
In the end, Souttar says there is good news that companies have time to prepare, but the uncertainty of this period should be cause for concern. Smart business, they say Results ITProit will implement plans and policies to threaten the population now.
“We’re not saying that everything has to change now, we’re not afraid, but we see that the closer you get to this, the faster you plan to take action when it happens.”
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