Cybersecurity in the Quantum Era

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Cybersecurity in
the Quantum Era

Category: Cybersecurity

Facilitator: Bruno Huttner

Duration: 120 min

Session date: 29-02-2024

Session time: 2:00 PM

Language: English

Target Audience: People in companies who are interested in cybersecurity and would like to lead the necessary transition to quantum-safe security.

Prerequisite Knowledge: A Basic understanding of cryptography and some interest in quantum mechanics (no need for any mathematical aspect for both). A background in cybersecurity is a plus, but it is not necessary.

Outcomes

Objective

Workshops Aim

Workshop Abstract

In our connected world, where information exchange is ubiquitous, cybersecurity is paramount. Unfortunately, today the security of our communication infrastructure is under the threat of the Quantum Computer (QC). It is now well understood that a QC implementing the Shorr algorithm will solve factoring, the mathematical problem underlying all current public-key (or asymmetric) cryptography, which is at the heart of cybersecurity. The timing of the availability of a QC capable of factoring large integers and, therefore, of breaking most existing public key cryptosystems is still under debate, but considering the continued and growing investments in QC, this lead time is shorter than ever. However, the so-called intercept now-decrypt later attack would allow bad actors to intercept and store exchanged data today and decipher it at a later stage when the QC is available. Therefore, the risk created by the quantum threat is already real and rapidly increasing. In order to prepare our cybersecurity framework for this momentous event and secure it for the future, action must be taken today.

This workshop aims to provide an overview of this evolving field. We will describe the principles of the quantum computer, introduce the quantum threat and present possible solutions that are being implemented today already. These include post-quantum cryptography, improved key generation with a quantum random number generator, quantum key distribution, and eventually, quantum networks. The future cybersecurity infrastructure will include a combination of all these technologies. The migration to quantum-safe communication is likely to be done in phases with the implementation of hybridization between classical and PQC cryptography and the use of Quantum Key Distribution. The clock is ticking, and data confidentiality is at risk, and our communication infrastructure is jeopardized.

This workshop offers an opportunity to understand the QC threats better and familiarize yourself with the challenges of the migration to quantum-safe communication, the different associated technologies, and their implementation in the current telecommunication infrastructure. The workshop will include practical experiments about eavesdropping on fiber optic telecommunication lines and a demonstration of the principle of the BB84 quantum key distribution protocol with polarised light.