In 2012, when you heard about the wonders of blockchain technology, did you go and buy a big chunk of Bitcoin? Are you now obscenely wealthy?

I did not. Its funny, I got so wrapped up in the value of the underlying technology, I kind of forgot to invest in that part of it.

Cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin rely on encryption methods that could easily be cracked by a quantum computer.Credit:Getty

Mores the pity. What exactly does Accentures blockchain division do?

We serve Fortune 100 and Fortune 500 companies, so we are constantly working with different industries and going through a very deliberate approach of evaluating how Web3 is impactful for each individual and each industry. Where will the value come from? What are those killer use cases? What clients are best positioned to go after these killer use cases?

We have a dedicated digital currency team thats working with central banks on bank-issued stable coins and central bank digital currency. We have a digital asset markets team fully focused on the modernisation of capital markets. Ive got a supply chain team thats working on using this technology to bring together order to cash [i.e. all business processes related to a sale] and procure to pay [business processes related to procurement from suppliers] and trade finance and logistics. We have all of these components that together form the ingredients for metaverse experiences.

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When youre working with these Fortune 500 companies, is there a certain area of Web3 theyre most interested in?

Industry by industry, there are unique dimensions. With every one of our product company clients were now working with them to think through, do you have a valid digitally native product taking advantage of this tokenisation capability [ability to convert digital products into blockchain assets]? And then similarly, do you have an augmented reality version of your product and do you have a strategy there?

Then there are very industry-specific plays like the redefinition of money and financial services and the emergence of new payment rails, and what money for the metaverse will look like. And then you have these interesting dynamics like supply chains for digitally native products. You need to be able to effectively custody and transport things. Each industry has its own unique dimension to it.

Are there parts of the broader Web3 industry you think wont be around in five years time, or parts that will fail to find an actual use case?

If we look at non-fungible tokens (NFTs) versus fungible tokens, theres this unhelpful focus on what is too frequently a get-rich-quick scheme, all these NFTs with artificial scarcity. If a company only creates ten NFTs of a product because they want a big marketing splash and a wild valuation for them, to me, thats not nearly as interesting as getting your brand to show up everywhere.

Everything that currently exists right now will need to be retrofitted. And that is a big, big job.

Instead, companies should be making millions of fungible tokens and selling them each for $2.99 because I want everyone to be wearing my branded shoe, hat, whatever it is, as they show up in the metaverse.

We just need to move past this artificial scarcity, wild valuation moment and really think through the utility of what digitally native and digitally augmented products will create.

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Youve also got some expertise in the quantum computing space. I know its early stages, but when we have fully functional quantum computers, what does that mean for the security of the blockchain, considering that quantum computers will be able to easily crack modern encryption that things like Bitcoin rely on?

The advancement of quantum does challenge our existing encryption, just as you described, but every advancement is as applicable to offence as it is defence. For anything new that were building now, were already very much considering what the post-quantum cryptography requirements will be. The standards for that are just now emerging.

However, everything that currently exists right now will need to be retrofitted. And that is a big, big job. Its a bit trite to say, but I do equate it to the whole Y2K issue.

But with Y2K, we had the benefit of a known date and a known fix. The challenge we have now is that we dont know when that quantum supremacy will be achieved to break the current RSA encryption. A lot of work has to go into that and so our advice to clients is to get started on that work straight away.

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The major cornerstones of crypto - Bitcoin and Ethereum - arent quantum-proof. How confident are you that theyll achieve that in the timeframes they need to?

We think theres real urgency around being prepared. If good guys develop it first, they will announce it. If a bad actor is the first one to get there, Im not sure theyre going to announce that, instead well just start to see the impacts of it. So getting ready is super important.

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Like Y2K: Will quantum computing be the end of cryptocurrencies? - Sydney Morning Herald

Researchers from Simon Fraser University were successful in making a breakthrough in the field of quantum technology development. Their study paves the way for creating silicon-based quantum computing processors compatible with the existing semiconductor manufacturing technology.

The researchers light up the silicon chips tiny defects with intense light beams. Stephanie Simmons, the principal investigator of the research, explains that the imperfections of the chips serve as an information carrier. Investigators point out that the tiny defect reflects the transmitted light.

Some of the naturally occurring silicon imperfections may act as quantum bits or qubits. Scientists consider these defects as spin qubits. Also, previous research shows how silicon produces long-lived and stale qubits.

Daniel Higginbottom, their lead author, considers this breakthrough promising. He explains that the researchers were able to combine silicon defects with quantum physics when it was considered to be impossible to do before.

Furthermore, he notes that while silicon defects have been studied extensively from the 1970s to the 1990s and quantum physics research being done for decades, its only now that they saw these two studies come together. He says that by utilizing optical technology in silicon defects[theyve] have found something with applications in quantum technology thats certainly remarkable.

Simmons acknowledges that quantum computing is the future of computers with its capability to solve simple and complex problems, however, its still in its early stages. But with the use of silicon chips, the process can become more streamlined and bring quantum computing faster to the public than expected.

This study demonstrates the possibility of making quantum computers with enough power and scale to manage significant computation. It gives an opportunity for advancements in the fields of cybersecurity, chemistry, medicine, and other fields.

Photo credit: The feature image is symbolic and has been taken by Solar Seven.Sources: Chat News Today / Quantum Inspire

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Researchers Find Breakthrough on Quantum Computing With Silicon Chips - TechAcute

Why cant a computer both play chess and recognize images familiar to most people? Its a simple question that cuts to the core of the biggest challenges in computing today: Despite their immense processing power, todays computers still fail when confronted with some of the most basic human tasks.

The problem stems from computers lack of general intelligence, or the ability to excel at more than just one task. Despite our range of niche obsessions, us humans tend to be pretty good at this but we cant say the same for machines. While the Deep Blue supercomputer bested humans at chess over two decades ago, it would have utterly failed at, say, comprehending the meaning of a handshake (so it doesnt sound too fun to hang out with).

Now, powerful machine learning algorithms are edging closer toward general intelligence by demonstrating their ability to recognize patterns and emulate human speech. But true general intelligence remains difficult for devices to achieve.

To tackle this feat, researchers have recently proposed computer designs inspired by the human brains structure, specifically its tens of billions of neurons that are laced together into intricate, interrelated networks.

Even the massive supercomputers that require enough energy to run a small town havent been able to achieve the intelligence inherent in the human mind. Xinhua/Getty Images

Take, for instance, the SpiNNaker supercomputer from the University of Manchester in England. The high-tech machine can emulate tens of thousands of neurons to mimic the way a brain works.

But thats still only a fraction of the number of neurons contained in our powerful heads, and SpiNNaker is a long way from being human. Instead, Axel Hoffmann, a materials scientist at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, hopes that the solution lies in futuristic quantum materials.

In a paper published in the journal APL Materials last month, Hoffmann and his co-authors explore how these materials would enable computer chips to behave like human neurons. These chips could carry out functions far more efficiently than most computers, and even form networks that behave like regions of the brain.

The Power Problem Its difficult to create computers with human-like cognition because we need massive amounts of power to emulate the brain. While our minds only require about 20 watts of power to do their thing, a supercomputer like Chinas Tianhe-2 sucks up 17.8 million watts (enough to power a small town) and still hasnt reached general intelligence.

Clearly, throwing more processors at the problem isnt a sustainable solution. Thats why scientists like Hoffmann are rethinking the basic architecture of a computer, which encodes information using long strings of ones and zeros.

Maintaining those ones and zeros takes a lot of energy, partly because computers need to keep them strictly separated, Hoffmann says.

And unlike the mind, traditional computers carry out their processing separately from their memory. That means they use a lot of energy simply carrying information back and forth from memory to processor, which sounds pretty exhausting.

By imitating networks of neurons in the human brain, computer chips made of quantum materials could allow for more efficient, intelligent devices that perhaps rival our own minds.ARTUR PLAWGO / SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY/Science Photo Library/Getty Images

Recreating Neurons To circumvent this problem, Hoffmann and other researchers want to make computer chips inspired by the basic mechanics of our brains neurons and synapses. In their APL Materials paper, Hoffmann and his co-authors lay out an innovative approach that would incorporate circuits made not of silicon, the current standard ingredient, but of quantum materials.

A quantum material may sound far-fetched, but Hoffmann says its simply an umbrella term for materials with properties that traditional models of physics cant quite explain. (Quantum materials are also distinct from quantum computers, which rely on units of information called qubits that hold superpositions of a one and a zero simultaneously.)

Specifically, Hoffmann is most interested in materials that can change state from, for instance, a zero to a one with very little energy input, also called non-linear responses. This property is found in substances such as vanadium dioxide, a dark blue compound that can transition efficiently from a conductor to an insulator, and do so at nearly room temperature.

Hoffmann likens such responses to what goes down in water when its heated or cooled. When we change the temperature of water, not much happens until suddenly it either freezes or starts boiling, he says.

Crossing the threshold The neurons in our brains rely on similar tipping points, also called thresholds. Mimicking that property within a computer circuit made of vanadium oxide could unlock super-powerful computing abilities at a fraction of the energy cost. This could be a big step forward in establishing energy-efficient brain-like systems, Hoffmann says.

To take advantage of these tipping points, researchers can utilize materials that can change how they're magnetized. Theoretically, these materials would oscillate between different magnetic states, benefitting from the kind of non-linear responses Hoffmann is searching for. While it's still an area of developing research, scientists have observed these kinds of magnetic oscillations in layered combinations of metals like iron and rhodium, along with cobalt and nickel.

Metals like the rhodium shown here can be incorporated into materials that switch between magnetic states and act somewhat like neurons.Shutterstock

It appears that these magnetic oscillators can resemble a lot of the properties that we know from natural neurons, he says.

Along with providing computers with brain-inspired efficiency, Hoffman and his colleagues see additional possibilities for machines concocted from quantum materials. For example, when hooked together, magnetic oscillators seem to influence each other, much in the same way that networks of neurons work in sync to perform complex tasks. This behavior could eventually pave the way for general intelligence and perhaps even consciousness.

We believe that larger networks of coupled magnetic oscillators may provide similarly complex dynamics as the natural brain, Hoffmann says.

All in all, this development could mark a major step toward forging artificial intelligence that can rival our own minds. And while theyre at it, computers may even become better conversationalists.

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"Quantum materials" could give the human brain a run for its money - Inverse

Vitalik Buterin believes that the future of the Ethereum blockchain and crypto ETH is good, but there are many challenges to be solved.

Not long ago the founder of Ethereum made public about the future of blockchain which is widely used for various crypto projects. Heres the gist of what he told BUIDL in Asia programahead of plan Sickness going to Ethereum 2.0 Which will be held in September 2022.

The ZK-Rollup project is considered the most important foundation Example The Ethereum blockchain is getting widespread.

There are ZK-rollups Crypto transaction protocol that allows indirect transactions via the Ethereum blockchain aka off-chain,

This method will radically speed up transactions and increase their volume. In the end this will increase efficiency and expand Example Ethereum blockchain itself, including adoption ETH As for its crypto.

This technique is similar to the technique power network Used to improve from 2018 Example Blockchain Litecoin and Bitcoin.

In the long term, ZK-rollups will outperform optimistic rollup techniques, Vitalik said.

Again according to Vitalik, Ethereum developers should be prepared to face the threat of quantum computing, which is expected to get exponentially better in terms of speed.

The discourse on quantum computing, which is considered a major threat to current blockchain technology, including bitcoin, has been going on since 4 years ago.

Because at that time quantum computing technology experienced significant development, after it was proved that it is capable of computing very complex calculations in just 10 minutes. If you use todays supercomputers, it could take up to thousands of years.

Quantum computing does not rely on the combination of 0 or 1 numbers, binary numbers, but on the concept of qubitwhere two states Can run at once, i.e. 0 or 1 and 0 and 1. This may be because the processor does not take advantage of the electrical dynamics of transistors, but particles at the subatomic level.

This means that the computational speed is millions of times higher than that of todays supercomputers and is expected to continue to increase in the future to make it easier for humans to do their jobs.

The problem is that the smarter quantum computers are, the more they threaten current human cryptographic security systems, including the bitcoin blockchain that uses SHA256.

Vitalik Buterin: Googles quantum computer failed

This huge growth in quantum computing was noted by Vitalik last year, that the power of new computers is not a threat now, but will be in the future.

This is because quantum computing promises a new world of derivative technology, but at the same time poses a threat to traditional technology. This is exactly what happened when the first supercomputer was developed.

You can read the Blockchainmedia.id archive Related to quantum computing on this page,

We are currently working with several artificial intelligence researchers to develop new algorithms that can compete with the high capabilities of quantum computing. This is still a long way off, between 10-30 years from now, said Vitalik. he said. [ps]

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Vitalik Buterin, The Future Of Ethereum (ETH) And The Challenge Of Quantum Computing - Nation World News

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In the first article of the two-part series, Ted Shorter, CTO, Keyfactor, discussed a few key trends in cryptography and public key infrastructure (PKI). In this article, the second of the series, he discusses a few more crucial trends to watch out for in cryptography this year.

In todays digital world, cryptography has emerged as one of the most important tools for building secure systems. By properly leveraging cryptography, modern businesses can ensure the integrity, confidentiality, and authenticity of sensitive data that is essential to essential to business operations.

In the first part of this series, we discussed some of the biggest trends andemerging changes in cryptographythat we expect to have a huge impact on a companys business and cryptographic needs. Rounding out the list, here are two more of the most significant trends in cryptography that we expect to see this year.

A growing awareness of supply chain risk, the global drive toward zero-trust, and the widespread adoption of public key infrastructure (PKI) for software security requires that organizations give priority to crypto-agility, the ability to rapidly switch between multiple cryptographic primitives and algorithms without the rest of the systems infrastructure being significantly affected by the changes. In fact,according to Keyfactor and Ponemon Institute, 57% of IT and security leaders have identified crypto-agility as a leading strategic priority in preparing for quantum computing.

Today, speed and security rule the world of enterprise technology. Unfortunately, the two are often at odds, creating a disconnect between DevOps and security teams. DevOps teams need to move fast to develop products that are in line with market needs, and many are not all that concerned about where certificates are issued from and what policies they comply with, so long as they have what they need to keep moving forward at speed. Faced with this primary concern, many DevOps teams have started to issue their own digital certificates, creating numerous blind spots for their security counterparts and leaving their solutions open to risk. In fact, most security teams do not fully know how many certificates have been issued, let alone where they live and when they expire.

The key to bridging this divide without sacrificing speed or security is introducing back-end controls for certificates that get issued through DevOps tools. This approach allows DevOps teams to move as quickly as they need to without changing their existing architecture since they can continue to issue and use certificates the same way they have been. But on the back-end, it gives security teams visibility into every certificate that gets issued to enforce policies and ensure accountability. And with automated certificate lifecycle management, the security team can automatically renew certificates as they expire to help ensure nothing breaks and to manage certificates with the necessary speed.

This type of collaboration will give rise to true crypto-agility. Organizations will use cryptography to its full potential, including rolling out digital identities as needed, securing the software supply chain, and deploying PKI to support DevSecOps, all with the ability to respond to changes rapidly.

The potential impact of quantum technology threatens both national security and the very foundation upon which internet security is based. According to the National Security Agency, a quantum computer of sufficient size and sophistication will be able to break much of the public-key cryptography used on digital systems across the United States.

In early May, the Biden-Harris administration announced an Executive Order that would bolster the National Quantum Initiative Advisory Committee. The committee guides policymaking and will work directly under the White House to ensure President Biden, Congress, federal agencies, and the public have the latest, most accurate information about advances in quantum technology. At the same time, President Joe Biden signed a National Security Memorandum, which outlines steps to mitigate the risks posed to Americas cybersecurity infrastructure. Both directives are intended to advance national initiatives in quantum science and raise awareness of the potential threats quantum computing will bring to the integrity of internet security.

In addition, a number of industry groups, including those in the automotive and medical industries, are developing their own security baselines. As the looming threat of quantum computing draws nearer, we will start to see more adoption of security standards as guidelines or even regulations.

The high-profile cyber incidents of the past year have thrown a spotlight on the sudden and significant impact modern threats can have on an organizations cybersecurity and cryptographic needs. As we muse on what the coming year will bring, trust and agility will become paramount to ensuring businesses continue to operate securely. In the face of the disruptive events of the last year, enterprises have increasingly embraced the zero-trust principle, trust nothing, validate everything. In this model, PKI and machine identities have emerged as essential technologies to authenticate and establish digital trust between users, devices, and workloads across the business.

However, it is important to remember that trust is not static. As the threat landscape evolves and new technologies like quantum computing emerge, security standards will inevitably change. An organizations ability to effectively manage and quickly adapt PKI infrastructure and machine identities to new algorithms, standards, and environments (i.e., their crypto-agility) will be equally important.

The good news is that organizations are becoming more aware of the urgency to become more crypto agile. In ourrecent surveyanalyzing the role of PKI, keys, and digital certificates in securing IT organizations, preparing for crypto-agility was ranked as a top strategic priority for digital security by 57% of IT security professionals. As the threat landscape continues to evolve, cryptographys importance will only grow along with the need for centralized management of machine identities.

In the first article of the two-part series, Ted Shorter, CTO, Keyfactor, discussed a few key trends in cryptography and public key infrastructure (PKI). In this article, the second of the series, he discusses a few more crucial trends to watch out for in cryptography this year.

In todays digital world, cryptography has emerged as one of the most important tools for building secure systems. By properly leveraging cryptography, modern businesses can ensure the integrity, confidentiality, and authenticity of sensitive data that is essential to essential to business operations.

In the first part of this series, we discussed some of the biggest trends andemerging changes in cryptographythat we expect to have a huge impact on a companys business and cryptographic needs. Rounding out the list, here are two more of the most significant trends in cryptography that we expect to see this year.

A growing awareness of supply chain risk, the global drive toward zero-trust, and the widespread adoption of public key infrastructure (PKI) for software security requires that organizations give priority to crypto-agility, the ability to rapidly switch between multiple cryptographic primitives and algorithms without the rest of the systems infrastructure being significantly affected by the changes. In fact,according to Keyfactor and Ponemon Institute, 57% of IT and security leaders have identified crypto-agility as a leading strategic priority in preparing for quantum computing.

Today, speed and security rule the world of enterprise technology. Unfortunately, the two are often at odds, creating a disconnect between DevOps and security teams. DevOps teams need to move fast to develop products that are in line with market needs, and many are not all that concerned about where certificates are issued from and what policies they comply with, so long as they have what they need to keep moving forward at speed. Faced with this primary concern, many DevOps teams have started to issue their own digital certificates, creating numerous blind spots for their security counterparts and leaving their solutions open to risk. In fact, most security teams do not fully know how many certificates have been issued, let alone where they live and when they expire.

The key to bridging this divide without sacrificing speed or security is introducing back-end controls for certificates that get issued through DevOps tools. This approach allows DevOps teams to move as quickly as they need to without changing their existing architecture since they can continue to issue and use certificates the same way they have been. But on the back-end, it gives security teams visibility into every certificate that gets issued to enforce policies and ensure accountability. And with automated certificate lifecycle management, the security team can automatically renew certificates as they expire to help ensure nothing breaks and to manage certificates with the necessary speed.

This type of collaboration will give rise to true crypto-agility. Organizations will use cryptography to its full potential, including rolling out digital identities as needed, securing the software supply chain, and deploying PKI to support DevSecOps, all with the ability to respond to changes rapidly.

The potential impact of quantum technology threatens both national security and the very foundation upon which internet security is based. According to the National Security Agency, a quantum computer of sufficient size and sophistication will be able to break much of the public-key cryptography used on digital systems across the United States.

In early May, the Biden-Harris administration announced an Executive Order that would bolster the National Quantum Initiative Advisory Committee. The committee guides policymaking and will work directly under the White House to ensure President Biden, Congress, federal agencies, and the public have the latest, most accurate information about advances in quantum technology. At the same time, President Joe Biden signed a National Security Memorandum, which outlines steps to mitigate the risks posed to Americas cybersecurity infrastructure. Both directives are intended to advance national initiatives in quantum science and raise awareness of the potential threats quantum computing will bring to the integrity of internet security.

In addition, a number of industry groups, including those in the automotive and medical industries, are developing their own security baselines. As the looming threat of quantum computing draws nearer, we will start to see more adoption of security standards as guidelines or even regulations.

The high-profile cyber incidents of the past year have thrown a spotlight on the sudden and significant impact modern threats can have on an organizations cybersecurity and cryptographic needs. As we muse on what the coming year will bring, trust and agility will become paramount to ensuring businesses continue to operate securely. In the face of the disruptive events of the last year, enterprises have increasingly embraced the zero-trust principle, trust nothing, validate everything. In this model, PKI and machine identities have emerged as essential technologies to authenticate and establish digital trust between users, devices, and workloads across the business.

However, it is important to remember that trust is not static. As the threat landscape evolves and new technologies like quantum computing emerge, security standards will inevitably change. An organizations ability to effectively manage and quickly adapt PKI infrastructure and machine identities to new algorithms, standards, and environments (i.e., their crypto-agility) will be equally important.

The good news is that organizations are becoming more aware of the urgency to become more crypto agile. In ourrecent surveyanalyzing the role of PKI, keys, and digital certificates in securing IT organizations, preparing for crypto-agility was ranked as a top strategic priority for digital security by 57% of IT security professionals. As the threat landscape continues to evolve, cryptographys importance will only grow along with the need for centralized management of machine identities.

In the first article of the two-part series, Ted Shorter, CTO, Keyfactor, discussed a few key trends in cryptography and public key infrastructure (PKI). In this article, the second of the series, he discusses a few more crucial trends to watch out for in cryptography this year.

In todays digital world, cryptography has emerged as one of the most important tools for building secure systems. By properly leveraging cryptography, modern businesses can ensure the integrity, confidentiality, and authenticity of sensitive data that is essential to essential to business operations.

In the first part of this series, we discussed some of the biggest trends andemerging changes in cryptographythat we expect to have a huge impact on a companys business and cryptographic needs. Rounding out the list, here are two more of the most significant trends in cryptography that we expect to see this year.

A growing awareness of supply chain risk, the global drive toward zero-trust, and the widespread adoption of public key infrastructure (PKI) for software security requires that organizations give priority to crypto-agility, the ability to rapidly switch between multiple cryptographic primitives and algorithms without the rest of the systems infrastructure being significantly affected by the changes. In fact,according to Keyfactor and Ponemon Institute, 57% of IT and security leaders have identified crypto-agility as a leading strategic priority in preparing for quantum computing.

Today, speed and security rule the world of enterprise technology. Unfortunately, the two are often at odds, creating a disconnect between DevOps and security teams. DevOps teams need to move fast to develop products that are in line with market needs, and many are not all that concerned about where certificates are issued from and what policies they comply with, so long as they have what they need to keep moving forward at speed. Faced with this primary concern, many DevOps teams have started to issue their own digital certificates, creating numerous blind spots for their security counterparts and leaving their solutions open to risk. In fact, most security teams do not fully know how many certificates have been issued, let alone where they live and when they expire.

The key to bridging this divide without sacrificing speed or security is introducing back-end controls for certificates that get issued through DevOps tools. This approach allows DevOps teams to move as quickly as they need to without changing their existing architecture since they can continue to issue and use certificates the same way they have been. But on the back-end, it gives security teams visibility into every certificate that gets issued to enforce policies and ensure accountability. And with automated certificate lifecycle management, the security team can automatically renew certificates as they expire to help ensure nothing breaks and to manage certificates with the necessary speed.

This type of collaboration will give rise to true crypto-agility. Organizations will use cryptography to its full potential, including rolling out digital identities as needed, securing the software supply chain, and deploying PKI to support DevSecOps, all with the ability to respond to changes rapidly.

The potential impact of quantum technology threatens both national security and the very foundation upon which internet security is based. According to the National Security Agency, a quantum computer of sufficient size and sophistication will be able to break much of the public-key cryptography used on digital systems across the United States.

In early May, the Biden-Harris administration announced an Executive Order that would bolster the National Quantum Initiative Advisory Committee. The committee guides policymaking and will work directly under the White House to ensure President Biden, Congress, federal agencies, and the public have the latest, most accurate information about advances in quantum technology. At the same time, President Joe Biden signed a National Security Memorandum, which outlines steps to mitigate the risks posed to Americas cybersecurity infrastructure. Both directives are intended to advance national initiatives in quantum science and raise awareness of the potential threats quantum computing will bring to the integrity of internet security.

In addition, a number of industry groups, including those in the automotive and medical industries, are developing their own security baselines. As the looming threat of quantum computing draws nearer, we will start to see more adoption of security standards as guidelines or even regulations.

The high-profile cyber incidents of the past year have thrown a spotlight on the sudden and significant impact modern threats can have on an organizations cybersecurity and cryptographic needs. As we muse on what the coming year will bring, trust and agility will become paramount to ensuring businesses continue to operate securely. In the face of the disruptive events of the last year, enterprises have increasingly embraced the zero-trust principle, trust nothing, validate everything. In this model, PKI and machine identities have emerged as essential technologies to authenticate and establish digital trust between users, devices, and workloads across the business.

However, it is important to remember that trust is not static. As the threat landscape evolves and new technologies like quantum computing emerge, security standards will inevitably change. An organizations ability to effectively manage and quickly adapt PKI infrastructure and machine identities to new algorithms, standards, and environments (i.e., their crypto-agility) will be equally important.

The good news is that organizations are becoming more aware of the urgency to become more crypto agile. In ourrecent surveyanalyzing the role of PKI, keys, and digital certificates in securing IT organizations, preparing for crypto-agility was ranked as a top strategic priority for digital security by 57% of IT security professionals. As the threat landscape continues to evolve, cryptographys importance will only grow along with the need for centralized management of machine identities.

In the first article of the two-part series, Ted Shorter, CTO, Keyfactor, discussed a few key trends in cryptography and public key infrastructure (PKI). In this article, the second of the series, he discusses a few more crucial trends to watch out for in cryptography this year.

In todays digital world, cryptography has emerged as one of the most important tools for building secure systems. By properly leveraging cryptography, modern businesses can ensure the integrity, confidentiality, and authenticity of sensitive data that is essential to essential to business operations.

In the first part of this series, we discussed some of the biggest trends andemerging changes in cryptographythat we expect to have a huge impact on a companys business and cryptographic needs. Rounding out the list, here are two more of the most significant trends in cryptography that we expect to see this year.

A growing awareness of supply chain risk, the global drive toward zero-trust, and the widespread adoption of public key infrastructure (PKI) for software security requires that organizations give priority to crypto-agility, the ability to rapidly switch between multiple cryptographic primitives and algorithms without the rest of the systems infrastructure being significantly affected by the changes. In fact,according to Keyfactor and Ponemon Institute, 57% of IT and security leaders have identified crypto-agility as a leading strategic priority in preparing for quantum computing.

Today, speed and security rule the world of enterprise technology. Unfortunately, the two are often at odds, creating a disconnect between DevOps and security teams. DevOps teams need to move fast to develop products that are in line with market needs, and many are not all that concerned about where certificates are issued from and what policies they comply with, so long as they have what they need to keep moving forward at speed. Faced with this primary concern, many DevOps teams have started to issue their own digital certificates, creating numerous blind spots for their security counterparts and leaving their solutions open to risk. In fact, most security teams do not fully know how many certificates have been issued, let alone where they live and when they expire.

The key to bridging this divide without sacrificing speed or security is introducing back-end controls for certificates that get issued through DevOps tools. This approach allows DevOps teams to move as quickly as they need to without changing their existing architecture since they can continue to issue and use certificates the same way they have been. But on the back-end, it gives security teams visibility into every certificate that gets issued to enforce policies and ensure accountability. And with automated certificate lifecycle management, the security team can automatically renew certificates as they expire to help ensure nothing breaks and to manage certificates with the necessary speed.

This type of collaboration will give rise to true crypto-agility. Organizations will use cryptography to its full potential, including rolling out digital identities as needed, securing the software supply chain, and deploying PKI to support DevSecOps, all with the ability to respond to changes rapidly.

The potential impact of quantum technology threatens both national security and the very foundation upon which internet security is based. According to the National Security Agency, a quantum computer of sufficient size and sophistication will be able to break much of the public-key cryptography used on digital systems across the United States.

In early May, the Biden-Harris administration announced an Executive Order that would bolster the National Quantum Initiative Advisory Committee. The committee guides policymaking and will work directly under the White House to ensure President Biden, Congress, federal agencies, and the public have the latest, most accurate information about advances in quantum technology. At the same time, President Joe Biden signed a National Security Memorandum, which outlines steps to mitigate the risks posed to Americas cybersecurity infrastructure. Both directives are intended to advance national initiatives in quantum science and raise awareness of the potential threats quantum computing will bring to the integrity of internet security.

In addition, a number of industry groups, including those in the automotive and medical industries, are developing their own security baselines. As the looming threat of quantum computing draws nearer, we will start to see more adoption of security standards as guidelines or even regulations.

The high-profile cyber incidents of the past year have thrown a spotlight on the sudden and significant impact modern threats can have on an organizations cybersecurity and cryptographic needs. As we muse on what the coming year will bring, trust and agility will become paramount to ensuring businesses continue to operate securely. In the face of the disruptive events of the last year, enterprises have increasingly embraced the zero-trust principle, trust nothing, validate everything. In this model, PKI and machine identities have emerged as essential technologies to authenticate and establish digital trust between users, devices, and workloads across the business.

However, it is important to remember that trust is not static. As the threat landscape evolves and new technologies like quantum computing emerge, security standards will inevitably change. An organizations ability to effectively manage and quickly adapt PKI infrastructure and machine identities to new algorithms, standards, and environments (i.e., their crypto-agility) will be equally important.

The good news is that organizations are becoming more aware of the urgency to become more crypto agile. In ourrecent surveyanalyzing the role of PKI, keys, and digital certificates in securing IT organizations, preparing for crypto-agility was ranked as a top strategic priority for digital security by 57% of IT security professionals. As the threat landscape continues to evolve, cryptographys importance will only grow along with the need for centralized management of machine identities.

Get actionable insights from 1,200+ IT and security professionals on the next frontier for IAM strategy machine identities.

Read the Report

Get actionable insights from 1,200+ IT and security professionals on the next frontier for IAM strategy machine identities.

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Mainstream Crypto-Agility and Other Emerging Trends in Cryptography: Part 2 - Security Boulevard

WISeKey Implementing PostQuantum Algorithms in itsSecure Semiconductors MS6001/MS6003

Geneva August 9, 2022 WISeKey International Holding Ltd (WISeKey ) (SIX: WIHN, NASDAQ: WKEY), a leading global cybersecurity, AI, Blockchain and IoT company, announces substantial progress in the implementation of post-quantum algorithms in its Secure Semiconductors MS6001/MS6003.

During the last two years, WISeKey has made substantial progress in developing post-quantum resistant algorithms by establishing strategic R&D partnerships with MINES Saint-Etienne Research Institute (MINES Saint-Etienne”), an internationally renowned multidisciplinary university and lab created in 1816, aiming to help the international community find cryptography algorithms that will resist future quantum computing based cyber-attacks.

The WISeKey’s team of experts is working with several NIST’s candidates for the MS600X Common Criteria products: Crystals-Kyber for key exchange mechanism, and Crystals-Dilithium for signatures. The partnership is focusing into the practical implementation aspects for both algorithms, considering physical side-channel attack and deep learning process. This work completes the implementation of NTRU and ROLLO algorithms that the team has already studied, paving the way of a complete post-quantum cryptography toolbox.

This post-quantum cryptography toolbox will help to protect against the security threat posed by quantum computers, allowing hybrid solutions no later than 2025 as recommended by the French ANSSI. In addition to this, WISeKey will upgrade its PKI offer, adding new post-quantum features for the IoT market: Secure authentication, Brand protection, Network communications, future FIDO (Fast IDentity Online”) evolutions and additional generally web-connected smart devices that obtain, analyze, and process the data collected from their surroundings.

WISeKey is also working with NIST to define recommended practices for performing trusted network-layer onboarding, which will aid in the implementation and use of trusted onboarding solutions for IoT devices at scale. The WISeKey contribution to the project will be Trust Services for credentials and secure semiconductors to keep credential secure. Specifically, WISeKey will offer INeS Certificate Management Service (CMS) for issuing credentials and VaultIC secure semiconductors to provide tamperproof key storage and cryptographic acceleration.

While quantum computing offers endless perspectives to incredibly increase computing power, hackers will take advantage of this technology to crack cryptography algorithms, corrupt cybersecurity and compromise global economy. Research about quantum computing, namely how to use quantum mechanical phenomena to perform fast computation, was initiated in the early 1980s. The perspectives and unbelievable performances offered by this promising technology are so huge that many countries are sponsoring public/private R&D initiatives.

WISeKey brings its decades of expertise in designing Common Criteria EAL5+ and FIPS 140-2 Level 3 certified hardware based secure elements (MS600x secure microcontrollers, VaultIC, etc.) and in developing hacker resistant firmware. The new algorithms to be evaluated will first have to practically run on WISeKey’s existing and new hardware architectures. The Company will also share its expertise in deep learning AI techniques to prove the robustness of the implementations.

About WISeKey WISeKey (NASDAQ: WKEY; SIX Swiss Exchange: WIHN) is a leading global cybersecurity company currently deploying large scale digital identity ecosystems for people and objects using Blockchain, AI and IoT respecting the Human as the Fulcrum of the Internet. WISeKey microprocessors secure the pervasive computing shaping today’s Internet of Everything. WISeKey IoT has an install base of over 1.5 billion microchips in virtually all IoT sectors (connected cars, smart cities, drones, agricultural sensors, anti-counterfeiting, smart lighting, servers, computers, mobile phones, crypto tokens etc.). WISeKey is uniquely positioned to be at the edge of IoT as our semiconductors produce a huge amount of Big Data that, when analyzed with Artificial Intelligence (AI), can help industrial applications to predict the failure of their equipment before it happens.

Our technology is Trusted by the OISTE/WISeKey’s Swiss based cryptographic Root of Trust (RoT”) provides secure authentication and identification, in both physical and virtual environments, for the Internet of Things, Blockchain and Artificial Intelligence. The WISeKey RoT serves as a common trust anchor to ensure the integrity of online transactions among objects and between objects and people. For more information, visit http://www.wisekey.com.

Press and investor contacts: WISeKey International Holding Ltd Company Contact: Carlos Moreira Chairman & CEO Tel: +41 22 594 3000 info@wisekey.com WISeKey Investor Relations (US) Contact: Lena Cati The Equity Group Inc. Tel: +1 212 836-9611 lcati@equityny.com

Disclaimer: This communication expressly or implicitly contains certain forward-looking statements concerning WISeKey International Holding Ltd and its business. Such statements involve certain known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors, which could cause the actual results, financial condition, performance, or achievements of WISeKey International Holding Ltd to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. WISeKey International Holding Ltd is providing this communication as of this date and does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements contained herein as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. This press release does not constitute an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy, any securities, and it does not constitute an offering prospectus within the meaning of article 652a or article 1156 of the Swiss Code of Obligations or a listing prospectus within the meaning of the listing rules of the SIX Swiss Exchange. Investors must rely on their own evaluation of WISeKey and its securities, including the merits and risks involved. Nothing contained herein is, or shall be relied on as, a promise or representation as to the future performance of WISeKey.

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2022-08-09 | NDAQ:WKEY | Press Release | WISeKey International Holding AG - Stockhouse