Is Quantum Computing Really Safe?

Quantum computing has come a long way in the past few years. 1998 saw the creation of the world’s first two-qubit (quantum bit) computer, while in 2021 IBM announced that it had made the Eagle processor, with 127 qubits. IBM’s currently planning to unveil the Osprey chip, with 433 qubits, later this year. 

With more qubits comes more computational power, and while that might seem like a useful technological breakthrough, more powerful quantum computers are also bad news for anyone looking to keep their data safe and secure. In theory, quantum computers will be able to defeat all methods of encryption that are out there in the marketplace at the moment. This is why, whilst some companies have been hard at work making record-breaking quantum computers, others have been developing methods of post-quantum cryptography - a.k.a ways of keeping data safe from both traditional and quantum computers.

What is post-quantum cryptography?

It’s also known as quantum encryption and is designed to keep data safe when quantum computers become more widely available - which is only a matter of time. The race is on to create encryption methods that can withstand quantum computers. One of the most publicised of these methods is QKD, or Quantum Key Distribution, which relies on the properties of quantum physics. Millions of photons, or particles of light, can be quantum encrypted and sent through a fibre optic cable. Two users will use a secret to decrypt the message at the end. However, as the data has been quantum encrypted, if anyone other than the intended recipient attempts to read or eavesdrop on the message, then that alters the quantum state of the photons, meaning the hack or cyber attack can be detected.

It’s not a faultless system, though. One of the biggest flaws is that over long distances, the photons begin to degrade, meaning that most QKD systems are limited to distances of around 100km to 200km (which wouldn’t even get you from London to Manchester). Even the NSA isn’t fully convinced by the benefits of QKD. On their website, they claim that, ‘Quantum key distribution is only a partial solution,’ because it relies on specialist equipment and increased infrastructure costs. Also, as one of the benefits of QKD is that a potential eavesdropper would change the state of the photons and the encrypted message, the NSA points out that this makes QKD especially sensitive to denial-of-service attacks.

Who’s behind quantum key distribution?

There are plenty of companies, all over the world, currently working on post-quantum cryptography solutions. One of the most prominent of these companies is the Switzerland-based firm ID Quantique. Founded in 2001 by a group of scientists from the University of Geneva, ID Quantique was in the news just a few years ago, in 2019, when it was announced that it would be one of the 38 European firms to receive funding from a European Union project. The project, OPENQKD, is a three-year plan designed to test quantum communication infrastructures across the continent. With €15 million (£12.5 million) of funding, the project is intended to improve the security of critical infrastructure fields including telecommunication, finance, and government services - while ID Quantique is providing the QKD systems necessary to keep it secure.

Is ID Quantique the right company to be entrusting with something like this, though? Some of its partners include BT and the University of Cambridge, but two of the firm’s initial investors were Runa Capital and Phystech Ventures, two venture capital firms founded by Russians and based in Russia. In 2016, ID Quantique also received money from the South Korean telecommunications company SK Telecom - they bought 50% of the company. However, that means that a significant portion of the investment in ID Quantique is still coming from Russia.

In this day and age, when Russian state-sponsored hackers are behind sophisticated computer viruses and launching new varieties of malware, is it the best idea to be relying on a form of secure communication that’s being funded by Russia? QKD isn’t the only form of quantum encryption that’s out there. There are others that are being looked into, such as Quantum Random Number Generation (otherwise known as QRNG). Even though the UK left the EU, it’s still giving money to the EU’s Horizon 2020 scheme, which is funding the OPENQKD project. Perhaps there are better ways for the UK government to be spending its money rather than partnering with Russian-backed security solutions.

While the era of quantum computers might not be far off, that doesn’t mean we should be relying on the first organisation to come along, especially if there are concerns about the other companies they’re doing business with. For now, the quantum threat isn’t a reality, but that doesn’t mean it won’t be something to worry about in a couple of years - or maybe even less than that. If we end up having to quantum encrypt our private data, then we should make sure to do a background check on the companies we’re trusting with our data. Once quantum computers are powerful enough, all of our data will be at risk, and we should be sure of security providers’ motives before we hand all of our secrets over to them.