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Bob Gourley

Our report on Naturally Better Security dove deep into ways quantum effects can be leveraged to enhance real world cybersecurity. It was our most popular post in November 2016 and the feedback we received was taken as a signal that we should produce more on what CTOs should know about the quantum world. With this post we are kicking off a series of five pieces that will dive into quantum effects. This first post tackles some foundational background that puts the science into a historical context. The second one will discuss the current revolution in quantum computing. The third focuses on security concerns. The forth dives into quantum key distribution. The fifth hits on the “so-what” of the current revolution in terms of security.

So first, foundational background on quantum mechanics.

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QC and Formula 1 another opportunity and believer.


In the latest of our occasional series of interviews with interesting players behind the scenes in Formula 1 we meet a Russian scientist, who is keeping the Toro Rosso safe from cyber attacks and who has big plans for using quantum computers to create new F1 materials.

Acronis is a data support and protection business that was founded in 2003. It reportedly has five million personal consumers and 500,000 businesses using its technology in over 145 countries and offers services such as cloud security, data back up and recovery support.

Here James Allen interviews Acronis CEO Serguei Beloussov, who has a PhD in physics and sits on the board of directors at the Russian Quantum Center and Centre for Quantum Technologies in Singapore, about why Acronis has decided to spend its money on F1.

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The #NATO exercise, located in Tartu, Estonia, featured a simulated #cyber-attack, where participants worked together to identify the threat and mitigate the impact before it could spread across national systems. The participants tested and trained how to share information about cyber incidents in a rapid and efficient way, and how to coordinate their cyber defences in case of an attack.

To know more check us at https://www.shape.nato.int/2016/cyber-coalition-16-ends-nato…e-exercise

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New report: rise of the machines: the dyn attack was just A practice run.

As the adversarial threat landscape continues to hyper-evolve, America’s treasure troves of public and private data, IP, and critical infrastructure continues to be pilfered, annihilated, and disrupted. The Mirai IoT botnet has inspired a renaissance in adversarial interest in DDoS botnet innovation based on the lack of fundamental security-by-design in the Internet and in IoT devices, and based on the lack of basic cybersecurity and cyber-hygiene best practices by Internet users.

http://icitech.org/icit-publication-the-rise-of-the-machines…ctice-run/

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Hmmmm.


Sam Gussman arrived four years ago at Stanford University hoping to eventually parlay an engineering degree into a product manager job at Google or Facebook.

Working for the National Security Agency or other intelligence bureaus never crossed his mind. For Gussman, the government didn’t seem like the place for the most exciting, cutting-edge research in human computer interaction — his area of interest. Plus, it did no on-campus recruiting, unlike the many tech startups that e-mailed him daily about job opportunities and happy hours.

That career plan changed dramatically after Gussman took a new graduate class at Stanford’s engineering school called Hacking for Defense, or H4D, where he got to tackle real-life national security challenges. There he met with U.S. military officers and studied the mental duress soldiers face during combat and then worked on software that distinguishes insurgents from civilians in video feeds from drones. Suddenly government work was “super cool.”

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DAILY VIDEO: Microsoft Starts Quantum Computer Development Program; Cerber Ransomware Expands Database Encryption Attacks; IBM Debuts Watson Internet of Things Services Practice; and there’s more.

Today’s topics include Microsoft’s plan to build a Quantum computer, Trend Micro’s find that the Cerber malware is seeking out database files to encrypt and hold for ransom, IBM’s new Watson internet of things services for the automotive, electronics and insurance industries, and the release of the Microsoft Office Online Server update.

Microsoft is on a mission to build a quantum computer, and the company has appointed Todd Holmdahl to manage the project. Holmdahl is the corporate vice president of Microsoft Quantum, a unit dedicated to turning the company’s quantum computing research into real-world products.

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How does one prevent hacking from a QC system? Easy, on board to QC first before others do.


Quantum computers have the potential to perform calculations faster than ever possible before, inviting a significant rethink in how we approach cyber security.

Given the amount of research being ploughed into this area, we are likely to see a commercially viable machine in the near future, so cryptographers and the cyber security industry in general should work to have a clear view on the implications way ahead of that achievement.

Sure, But What Is Quantum Computing?

Every current computer — smartphones, laptops, smart TVs — manipulates binary digits (bits), and these bits can only have two values: “0” or “1”. (Note: bits are also used to quantify the strength of an encryption method e.g. 128-bit, 256-bit encryption… the more the better!) Quantum computers, however, use quantum bits (also known as “qubits”), where the value can be 0, 1 or both.

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TOKYO — Leading information technology companies are rushing to create systems that use artificial intelligence to defend against cyberattacks. The goal is to commercialize AI software to detect even ingeniously designed attacks, identify the perpetrators, and quickly mount a defense.

However, research is also taking place in the U.S. and elsewhere on ways to harness AI for cyberwarfare, and the trend suggests there will come a time when the battles in cyberspace pit AI against AI, leaving humans sidelined.

Fujitsu Laboratories, the R&D unit of Japanese IT giant Fujitsu, has begun to develop an AI system to protect corporate information systems from cyberattack. The system would learn to recognize regular patterns of network activity so deviant behavior stands out. The company aims to have a commercial product ready in two to three years that could uncover and respond to attacks even from hackers who intentionally space out their login attempts so they are difficult to discover.

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