How is Quantum Computing Impacting the Cybersecurity Industry?

Here is how quantum computing impacting the cybersecurity industry

Quantum computing has a significant and game-changing impact on cybersecurity. Quantum computing holds immense promise in a range of sectors, including AI technology, health research, and weather prediction, to name a few. It does, however, pose a severe threat to cybersecurity, mandating a shift in how we protect our data. Regardless of the fact that quantum computers cannot yet crack most types of security, we must stay ahead of the curve and build quantum-proof technologies as quickly as possible. If we wait for those powerful quantum computers to breach our security, it will be too late.

The Scraping Threat

Irrespective of when commercialised quantum computers become accessible, the possibility of unscrupulous actors collecting data is another incentive to quantum-proof data now. They've already started taking data and keeping it until they can get their hands on a QC to decode it. The data has already been tampered with at that moment. The only way to maintain the security of data, especially information that must be kept secure indefinitely, is to protect it today with quantum-proof technology.

The Quantum Threat

Quantum computers will be able to tackle problems that traditional computers would be unable to address. Decoding the techniques that undergird encryption keys, which protect our data and the Internet's architecture, is a part of this.

Much of today's modern encryption is built on mathematical calculations that would take outlandishly long to decipher on today's machines. Think of two enormous integers, for example, and combine them together to condense this. It's simple to calculate the product, but it's considerably more difficult to start with a huge number and divide it into two primes. A quantum computer, on the other hand, can instantly fold those numbers and decipher the code. Peter Shor created a quantum method (termed Shor's algorithm) that can factor big numbers much faster than a traditional computer. Since then, researchers have been working on building QCs that can process increasingly larger numbers.

The 2048-bit numbers are utilised in today's RSA encryption, which is a commonly used form of encryption, notably for delivering sensitive information over the web. Experts believe that breaking the encryption would require a quantum computer with 70 million qubits. Given that today's greatest quantum computer is IBM's 53-qubit quantum computer, it may be a while before that encryption is broken.

However, given the rapid speed of quantum research, the development of such a machine in the next 3 to 5 years cannot be ruled out.

It's worth mentioning that when it pertains to the quantum cryptography issue, fragile sensitive data isn't the major concern. The susceptibility of information that needs to maintain its confidentiality for the foreseeable future, such as domestic security data, financial data, privacy act data, and so on, poses a bigger danger. Those are the insights that need to be protected right now with quantum-proof cryptography, especially in the face of malicious people stealing it while they hunt for a quantum algorithm to crack it.

Addressing the Threat

There are many unanswered questions about quantum computing, and researchers are working hard to find answers. However, one thing is known about quantum computing's effect on cybersecurity: it will represent a danger to cybersecurity and current types of encryptions. To counteract this threat, we must change how we protect our data and begin doing it immediately. We must handle the quantum threat in the same way we handle other security threats: by employing a defense-in-depth strategy that includes many layers of quantum-safe protection. Security-conscious companies recognise the importance of crypto flexibility and are looking for technologies like Quantum Xchange's to make their cryptography quantum-safe now and quantum-ready for future threats.