While quantum technology opens new opportunities, including commercial, opportunities for societies and countries like Singapore and Germany, inherent risks and challenges, as well as political retention towards the establishment of open innovation and knowledge exchange emerge. In that sense, quantum technology is not only determined by individual strategies but also by building technology sovereignty that extends beyond local benefits. Quantum technology also enables digital sovereignty, as it depends on the ability to protect high-value assets and sensitive information.
Bokeh at ArtScience Museum Singapore
Building Quantum Sovereignty and Quantum Resilience
Quantum systems of all kinds will become critical assets as they will process highly-valuable and critical data and handle sensitive intellectual property. Quantum Security are an inherent requirement for technological and technical resilience in and with quantum-enhanced technologies.
Quantum Security
Once quantum technologies and applications become generally available and mature, there will be attacks and threats on a wider scale on quantum-enhanced and enabled systems with potential harm to the society and can lead to substantial socio-economic impact. The early involvement of various stakeholders ensures that the implemented security measures can be used by everyone.
At Fraunhofer Singapore we investigate building blocks and innovations in secure quantum engineering, interconnected with safeguards, along the three research areas of Quantum Communication, Quantum Computing, and Quantum Applications. This includes two important aspects: Sovereignty and Resilience for Quantum Technologies and by Quantum Technologies with a strategic collaboration with Fraunhofer institutes and local partners in research, open innovation, new technologies, skills, and knowledge building.
Our Services and Offers
We work closely with our customers and partners in order to systematically assess and improve the security of both, systems and products, to evaluate their reliability, to design them securely, and to sustainably ensure their security throughout the entire life cycle.
Evaluate security
- Evaluation of business an technology risks in accordance with a variety of assessment criteria as well as best practice standards
- Quantum readiness checks and quantum risk audits for our customer and clients
- Conducting threat and risk analyses of quantum systems and quantum-safe security communication services and solutions
- Analysis of cryptographic methods in classic and quantum communication
- Analysis and development of quantum-enabled technologies, like quantum random number generators, quantum key distribution (QKD) modules, quantum communication network infrastractures, security and trust of quantum and classical components
Design security
- Support regarding information security and data protection during development
- Development of cryptographic-, IT security- and data protection concepts
- Development of secure system architectures
- Development of solutions regarding usability, data privacy and security
- Secure software development
- Inclusion of the latest technologies, e.g., hybrid QKD and PQC approaches
- Quantum computer resistant cryptography, and cryptographic agility
Maintain security
- Risk management and vulnerability management
- Support in conducting security audits
- Training in the areas of quantum communication technologies and post-quantum cryptography, quantum risk awareness.
Expertise
Post-Quantum Cryptography
Quantum computers are having a significant impact on the security of asymmetric cryptographic methods being used today. A quantum computer algorithm developed by Shor in 1994 efficiently breaks cryptographic methods whose security relies either on the factorization problem (i.e., RSA encryption and digital signatures) or on the discrete logarithm problem (e.g., (EC)-DSA digital signatures or the key agreement method (EC) Diffie-Hellman).
This renders almost all currently used public key cryptographic systems insecure (digital signatures, key agreement and public key encryption methods). This is bound to affect almost all cryptographically secured Internet connections (e.g., via https or Virtual Private Network (VPN)).
The focus of our research is centered around the security analysis of quantum computer resistant methods, investigations regarding the applicability and optimizations for devices with limited resources as well as the migration of existing systems towards quantum computer resistant systems.
Our research draws on experience from numerous research and development projects: Quantum computer-resistant algorithms ensure future proof cryptographic systems. Modern cryptographic processes and protocols guarantee that all requirements regarding information security and data protection are implemented properly.
Quantum Cryptography and QKD
Quantum Communication has a great mid-term and long-term potential for value addition and is able to secure transactions, keep the transmission, protection and long-term storage of sensitive data and ensure the digital sovereignty of sensitive information. Significant progress has been made in Quantum Communication and Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) in both, terrestrial communication and space-based communication.
We work with a particular attention to the vulnerability surface and quantum attacks on QKD, as well as classic attacks that could arise on the cryptographic primitives, protocols, tamper protection of the entire systems.
Evaluation of new attack methods and vulnerabilities will also help to harmonize and standardize security evaluation and assessment requirements for quantum technologies.
Quantum-Enhanced Cryptoanalysis
Quantum-Enhanced Cryptoanalysis in the NISQ Era. Today’s quantum computer cannot implement Shor’s algorithm in a way to become a real threat for classic cryptography. On the other hand, NISQ devices and algorithms like Variational quantum eigensolver (VQE) or the quantum approximate optimization algorithm (QAOA) or newer approaches like Variational Quantum Cloning are hybrid algorithms that use NISQ devices but reduce the calculation load by implementing some parts of the algorithm in usual classical processors. We investigate new quantum algorithms for cryptoanalysis and combinations with side-channel information to improve the practicality for Quantum Cryptanalysis that can provide a real benefit to current state of the art cryptoanalysis.
Secure and Trusted Quantum Systems
Like in classic systems, quantum technologies and its active usage are intertwined with security and resilience. This will raise many open technical and legal questions on availability, robustness, reliability and trust and its implications as well. To tackle these challenges, Fraunhofer works on building up capabilities in quantum research and development secure and trusted quantum systems.
Drawing on the learnings from other emerging technologies like artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, digital transformation underlines a need to investigate quantum applications together with its security implications and to mitigate risks and unintended consequences of unprotected technology.