James Lindsay

With recent advancements in both the academic and commercial spaces, quantum computing is going to revolutionize the Information Technology space and pose the single biggest challenge for Cyber security practitioners within the next two to five years. Recently the US government through the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) released, four public quantum resistant cryptographic algorithms. How are these new algorithms going to be used, what questions do they answer, and what effects are they going to have on both an organizations security architecture and security teams’ day to day operations. This presentation will answer these questions. The presentation starts by explaining the monumental consequences that shores algorithm has unleashed on current cyber security practises. Then the presentation explains, in hopefully a humorous manner, what quantum mechanics is and how quantum mechanics is implemented in quantum computing. The presentation then focuses on quantum encryption and quantum attacks. After that the presentation shows how encryption algorithms can be quantum resistant and how a quantum resistance algorithm differs from normal encryption algorithms. This then leads to a discussion around the recently released NIST post quantum algorithms. By attending this brief, cyber security practitioners and professionals will understand how quantum computing works, how quantum computing will be used against a network and what tools are available to defend against quantum attacks (for example the NIST post quantum algorithms). Since organizations security architectures and postures usually take time to change, this brief will give practical steps both an individual and organization can take to be ready for the quantum threat.