Think about how kings used to dispatch messages to their armies in the field. They\u2019d send a messenger on horseback with a scroll written in code (often letter substitutions) that the army generals knew how to decipher. If the messenger were intercepted, the message wouldn\u2019t arrive at its destination and the enemy could try to decipher it to extract vital information. Even worse, the enemy could write a fake message and send that one instead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Transmitting encrypted messages over the internet is not that different. Data transfer today is still between one source and one destination, only now defined by pairs of IP addresses and port numbers. Even the encryptions are often character substitutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If a bad actor intercepts the message on its way via eavesdropping, they can save it and work on decrypting it. They can also impersonate the messenger and send false messages. (In the near future, we will write an article about how we create a zero-trust environment with a new protocol called the Wormhole\u2122 to solve the issue of false messengers.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Modern secure communications often utilize asymmetric key encryption, where the key that was used to encrypt a message is often readily available to the eavesdropper. The decryption would require one to solve a very difficult mathematical challenge that is expected to take a very long time \u2013 so long, that by the time it is solved by a computer, the message would have become irrelevant, and none of the parties involved would live to see the solution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This principle underlying contemporary secure communications (that by the time a computer would crack the code, the information would be useless) has all changed with the looming introduction of quantum computers \u2013 known as \u201cQ-day.\u201d And it\u2019s not that far off. (Read the Forbes article, Quantum Computing Is Coming Faster Than You Think<\/em><\/a>.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Quantum computers are expected to be able to solve this mathematical computational challenge in a relatively small number of computation steps, thus allowing an eavesdropper to decipher the communication. Even more concerning, any message can be stored, to be quickly deciphered promptly after Q-day \u2013 meaning even your communications today are at risk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In anticipation of Q-day, Great Wing developed Wormhole\u2122, a new method for data transfer that is safe from quantum computers. Including very strong symmetric encryption, Wormhole turns the transmission into a puzzle and sends it via a very large number of messengers from multiple different sources to many different destinations. For a bad actor to reconstruct the puzzle, all the messengers must be intercepted and arranged in the right sequence. Also, one would have to know which messages belong to which puzzle. And even if one were to build the puzzle \u2013 which is nearly impossible \u2013 it is encrypted using a very long symmetric key that changes periodically.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The entirety of electronic banking, SSL, and a significant part of internet communications are based on public-key cryptographic systems, such as RSA, to protect personal information and to validate the veracity of transmitted data. There are several such systems, and the security of each of them hinges on the difficulty to solve a different mathematical problem. Each would require thousands of years to solve \u2013 or so we thought, until quantum computing came along.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By running Shor\u2019s algorithm (or its alternatives) on a quantum computer, these codes could be solved in a very small number of steps, compromising the security of almost the entirety of internet communications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Once Shor\u2019s algorithm is implemented on a quantum computer, the internet as we know it will no longer be secure. This is called \u201cQ-day.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Not only will communications be rendered unsecure after Q-day, the security of all current communications has already been undermined. That is, using the \u201cHarvest Now, Decrypt Later\u201d strategy, stored internet transmissions could be readily decrypted by quantum machines when they become available. We have already discussed<\/a> how the harvesting is being done, and the efforts nation states are making toward this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To mitigate the damage, the White House published a National Security Memorandum<\/a> on Quantum-Vulnerable Computing Systems, stating:<\/p>\n\n\n\n “the United States must prioritize the timely and equitable transition of cryptographic systems to quantum-resistant cryptography.”<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The rest of the memorandum warns:<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Research shows that at some point in the not-too-distant future, when quantum computers reach a sufficient size and level of sophistication, they will be capable of breaking much of the cryptography that currently secures our digital communications on the Internet.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n [Quantum computing poses<\/em>] significant risks to the economic and national security of the United States,<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n [a quantum computer of sufficient size and sophistication<\/em>] will be capable of breaking much of the public-key cryptography used on digital systems across the United States and around the world.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n When it becomes available, <\/em>[this<\/em>] could jeopardize civilian and military communications, undermine supervisory and control systems for critical infrastructure, and defeat security protocols for most Internet-based financial transactions.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2016, NIST announced a six-year post-quantum encryption competition<\/a> to develop asymmetric quantum-resistant cryptography systems. The winners were announced<\/a> in 2022, two months following the White House National Security Memorandum on Quantum-Vulnerable Computing Systems<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, within the month of the announcement, one of the winning quantum-resistant algorithms (following extensive evaluation) was cracked<\/a>. The NIST finalist \u201cSIKE\u201d (Supersingular Isogeny Key Exchange), was defeated on a single PC in a little over an hour. It suggests we need to rethink our attitude toward encryption in general and post-quantum encryption in particular.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The problem with asymmetric cryptography systems (such as SIKE) is that their security relies on the time required to solve a difficult mathematical problem \u2013 all the information required for the solution is available to all parties \u2013 and if the problem is cracked, all communications (even past communications) become immediately compromised.<\/p>\n\n\n\nHarvest Now, Decrypt Later (HNDL)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Great Wing provides seamless transition to quantum-resistant communications<\/h3>\n\n\n\n