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“The threat of an opponent of the nation state getting a large quantum computer and gaining access to your information is real,” said Dustin Moody, a mathematician at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). “The threat is that they copy your encrypted data and keep it while they have a quantum computer.
Faced with this “harvest now and decipher later” strategy, employees are trying to develop and implement new encryption algorithms to protect the secrets of an emerging class of powerful machines. This includes the Department of Homeland Security, which says it is making a long and difficult transition to what is known as post-quantum cryptography.
“We don’t want to be in a situation where we wake up one morning and there’s a technological breakthrough, and then we have to get the job done in three or four years in a few months – with all the extra risks involved,” says Tim. Maurer, who advises the Home Secretary on cybersecurity and emerging technologies.
DHS recently released a roadmap for the transition, beginning with a call to catalog the most sensitive data, both in government and in the business world. Maurer says this is a vital first step, “to see which sectors are already doing this and which need help or awareness to make sure they are taking action now.”
Preparation in advance
Experts say it may still be a decade or more before quantum computers can achieve anything useful, but with money pouring into the field in both China and the United States, the race is to make it happen – and to design better protection against quantum attacks.
The United States, through NIST, has been running a competition since 2016, which aims to create the first quantum-resistant algorithms by 2024, according to Moody, who is leading NIST’s post-quantum cryptography project.
Switching to a new cryptography is a difficult and time consuming task and is easy to ignore until it is too late. It can be difficult to get for-profit organizations to spend years on an abstract future threat before that threat becomes a reality.
“If organizations don’t think about the transition now,” says Maurer, “and then get overwhelmed by the time the NIST process is complete and there is a sense of urgency, it increases the risk of accidental accidents … the transition is never a good idea. “
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