The aim of this event is to better understand quantum-safe encryption, and relaunch the quantum computing group! How is quantum-safe encryption different from the quantum-vulnerable encryption that is still used today? The public-key encryption (like RSA and ECC) currently used across the internet is not truly quantum-safe. It is secure against classical computers, but it is vulnerable to a sufficiently large quantum computer running Shor's algorithm. In contrast, post-quantum encryption is designed to be quantum-safe.
While no large-scale quantum computer capable of breaking this encryption exists today, that's expected to change as the technology evolves during the coming decade. NIST is finalizing standards for new post-quantum algorithms and advises government agencies and high-value targets to make the transition as early as 2025-2030.
Hundreds of times a day, your device and a server exchange keys on the internet to ensure secure communication, and then your data is encrypted so it can't be read by anyone else. This entire process happens so fast that we don’t see the actual steps!
How can we better understand this process? First, by simulating a classic Diffie-Hellman key exchange, and experimenting with custom parameters at each step. Then, by using network tools to capture data packets of several modern key exchanges (including a hybrid key exchange that combines a classical algorithm with a post-quantum one) at normal speed. By the end, we will have a deeper understanding of the difference between quantum-vulnerable and quantum-safe encryption.
