Protect Your Data Today Against Future Nefarious Uses of Quantum Computing

By: Eric Ziemendorf, Director of Cloud Architecture, DataBank

Can Cybercriminals Leverage Quantum Computing?

A bit of an irony: New technologies give the world possibilities for innovation we never imagined. They almost always also give cybercriminals new ways to steal digital assets.

Beware…that’s the case with quantum computing. Still relatively new in terms of successful iterations, quantum computing features QPUs with ultra-microscopic qubits. You can see them only with the world’s most powerful microscopes.

Qubits allow engineers and scientists to solve complex problems super-fast. That’s because they live in a state of superposition—not just the binary code of <0> and <1> found in a typical CPU. Users running analysis can work on a million computations at once.

The incredible speed of quantum computers also offers a potentially lethal tool for decrypting encrypted data. 256-bit encryption keys take today’s supercomputers billions of years to go through all the possible combinations to break the code.

However, by analyzing a million combinations at once, a quantum computer can break the keys in hours or even minutes. The technology is still in its infancy, so this threat does not exist quite yet, but that day will come.

Absolute Zero + Zero Vibration = Billions of Dollars

Only the tech giants of the world—such as Google, Microsoft, AWS, IBM, and Apple—will invest in data quantum computing data centers. They cost a billion dollars or more.

For starters, the technology requires near absolute zero temperatures. Lord Kelvin calculated absolute zero in 1848 as negative 273.15 Celsius. This equates to negative 459.67 degrees Fahrenheit. If you work as a systems engineer in one of these facilities, dress warm!

The facilities supporting quantum computing must also achieve zero vibration. Otherwise, the qubits will destabilize. Add to this the qubit manufacturing costs plus the cost of integrating systems to run analysis jobs, and you have a very expensive data center.

Clearly, the physical environment for quantum computing goes far beyond what large enterprises, research organizations, and educational institutions can afford. Instead, they will turn to the tech giants to rent time on quantum computing servers.

Cracking Open Today’s Data—In the Future

The danger in relation to quantum computing for enterprises and organizations lies in what cybercriminals can do today. If they steal sensitive, encrypted data that takes too long to decrypt, they can just hold onto the data.

Then they simply wait—until quantum computing is generally available. Nefarious threat actors, especially those sponsored by nation-states, will find a way to provision the technology too.

Cybercriminals can then apply quantum computing to potentially break encrypted data. If the target organization used a legacy encryption tool, the chances of decryption go way up. It’s almost like using DNA to solve a crime committed 50 years ago. How carefully did the crook cover his or her tracks?

The Best Defense: A Private Cloud in a Colocation Data Center

The best way to protect your infrastructure from these types of quantum computing threats is to deploy current decryption methods within a private cloud. Ideally, you would deploy your private cloud in a colocation data center.

You then need to regularly evaluate new encryption methods as they evolve. This approach allows you to better ensure threat actors can’t steal your data now and decrypt it when quantum computing turns into a reality. If they don’t succeed today, they may breach your infrastructure three years from now.

Compared to public cloud environments, private clouds give you more control over the security measures guarding your infrastructure. You also have more control over where you store your data.

A colocation data center gives you added protection with a facility that provides advanced security measures in comparison to on-premises data centers:

• Physical access control systems, video surveillance, and security guards
• Mantrap entrances, key card access, and biometric authentication
• Environmental controls to safeguard equipment and data
• Managed security services provided by senior cybersecurity experts
• Automatic failover to backup colocation data centers in the event of a local disaster
• Network firewalls, endpoint protection, and intrusion detection
• Encryption for data in transit and at rest as well as multi-factor authentication
• Digital access control and permissions management

As you plan your strategy to defend your digital assets, determine the high-priority systems you want to move into a colocation private cloud. Then make sure those systems use the latest encryption measures. This may also include deploying a new storage system that supports the latest encryption. With this approach, you will be ready when quantum computing hits the market.

When Will Quantum Computing Arrive?

Good question. Quantum computing is still at least a few years away. However, innovation can often take place in an instant. As manufacturers scale qubit production, the error rates will go down. If someone suddenly discovers a less expensive way to build a facility with absolute zero temperatures and zero vibration, watch out for a sudden breakthrough.

Quantum computing won’t displace the compute resources we rely on to run workloads today. It’s simply not cost-effective for streaming video, database transactions, and e-commerce. Today’s data centers run these workloads reliably and fast. However, those same systems could suffer an attack from the future of quantum computing and the superpowers it enables for cybercriminals.

For the short-term answer to this challenge, to deploy secure private clouds, many enterprises, research organizations, and education institutions turn to the DataBank METAL™ platform. Operating seamlessly within colocation environments and hybrid IT strategies, the bare-metal solution provides scalability, agility, and predictable costs.

To learn more about quantum computing and how a private cloud will help you protect your digital assets in the post-quantum computing world, contact DataBank today.