Quantum-safe Trust for Vehicles: The Race is Already On

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2021-05-29 09:30:04

The theory of quantum computing has been with us for nearly three decades, courtesy of a quantum mechanical model of the Turing machine proposed by physicist Paul Benioff in the early 1980s. For most of that time, the notion has seemed more a far-off vision than an impending reality. That changed abruptly with a 2019 claim by Google AI, in conjunction with NASA, that it had managed to perform a quantum computation infeasible on a conventional computer.

While many have eagerly anticipated the new vistas that could open with the arrival of quantum computing, cryptographers and security experts have not generally shared that enthusiasm since one of the most anticipated quantum advantages comes in the area of integer factorization, which is critical to RSA (Rivest-Shamir-Adleman)-based security. Also, as far back as 1994, MIT mathematician Peter Shor developed a quantum algorithm capable of solving the discrete logarithm problem central to Diffie-Hellman key exchange and elliptic curve cryptography.

Now that it seems quantum-computing capabilities could become commercially available within the next decade or two—likely in the form of cloud-based services—security professionals have turned with an intensified sense of urgency to the challenge of how to respond to the threat of quantum-powered attacks.