Cryptography provides the mathematical foundation to information security. Cryptography allows us to keep information and communications secure.
Emerging new technologies pose novel threats to information security. Quantum computers would be able to break many of the public key cryptosystems that we use to protect information today.
CryptoWorks21 is training researchers in quantum-safe cryptography to secure our future. There are two main approaches for developing quantum-safe cryptography:
- Quantum cryptography leverages the power of quantum mechanics to build cryptographic devices whose security relies on the laws of physics instead of assumptions about the hardness of mathematical problems.
- Post-quantum cryptography designs new mathematical problems to create cryptosystems that resist attacks by quantum computers but which do not rely new physical technology to use.
Researchers in CryptoWorks21 are investigating both approaches to developing quantum-safe cryptography and preparing our information technology infrastructure to use these new technologies.
Research areas
Fundamental tools and applications
Quantum mechanics enables fundamental new cryptographic rules previously impossible in classical cryptography. For example, the rules of quantum mechanics dictate that a quantum system cannot be observed without being disrupted. This means that the very nature of quantum mechanics can be used to protect quantum communications.
- Discovering and developing assumptions that would allow for computationally secure quantum-safe primitives
- Quantum algorithms for the computational problems underlying proposed “post-quantum” cryptography
- “Unconditionally” or “information theoretically” secure “classical” tools that remain secure against quantum adversaries
- Fundamentally new cryptographic primitives not possible in a classical paradigm that are enabled by quantum technologies
Implementation of tools
Developing and applying quantum technology is an important step in creating cryptographic tools for the future. Large-scale deployment of quantum cryptography devices and other quantum technologies will require collaboration between mathematicians, physicists and engineers.
- Achieving global distances for quantum cryptography
- Improving the performance of quantum cryptography technologies
- Faster processing of photon signals, developing new error correcting codes to improve key rates, etc.
- Developing secure physical implementations of quantum devices, and developing objective methods for certifying they meet appropriate standards
- Efficient implementation of “post-quantum” classical cryptography
Deploying and integrating quantum-safe systems
By gaining a deeper understanding of how quantum cryptography and conventional cryptography interact and combine, systems resistant to quantum technologies can be developed and integrated into a larger cryptographic tools. This knowledge will allow us to recognize how to develop secure larger systems, such as global multi-user quantum networks.
- Proof methods for guaranteeing security of systems using new quantum-safe tools
- Developing a deeper understanding of how the security guarantees of QKD interact with the provable security guarantees of conventional cryptography, and what practical assurances are offered when these pieces are combined
- Achieving global quantum communication networks with multi-user connectivity
- New tools and protocols to optimize network performance without compromising security