Quantum Computing Concepts for Cybersecurity

Quantum mechanics has revolutionised the way how to think about the world; its characteristics still perplex the brightest minds, even among physicists. Yet brilliant minds like Richard Feynman, who seemingly said “If you think you understand quantum mechanics, then you don't” thought of new ways to harness whatever they understood; he saw e.g., that quantum-based computers will be needed to perform calculations that would be impractical or impossible using classical computers. Quantum computing, though still at small scale, has since become reality and is poised to revolutionises many areas involving computations. Despite the enormous progress made in classical hardware and software, and even though classical computing will remain dominant in many areas, quantum computing is constantly improving and will in due course affect security and privacy (both on the internet and offline); maintaining ‘reasonable’ security will then not be as trivial as a quick update or upgrade. Larger entities already work on this, while smaller ones are now well advised to appreciate what will hit them and how to prepare, especially as guidance from regulators is still rather sparse in this area. This course focuses on explaining (and de-mystifying) basic concepts of quantum computing in the context of the vast risks for privacy and cybersecurity; it also addresses areas where quantum computing can improve privacy and cybersecurity. The course explains the typical physics jargon and technical details in an understandable way for non-Information Technology (IT) audience and decision makers.

This course complements our Cybersecurity Primer which focusses on traditional cyber-security.

Who should attend?

• Privacy / Software / Security / Artificial Intelligence (AI) Engineers, Technical Staff, Developers, Data Analysts, Data Architects, and IT Project / Risk Managers
• Data Protection Officers (DPOs), Compliance Professionals, Corporate / In-house Counsels, IT Managers, Chief Information Officers (CIOs), and Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs)

Course Details

Course Outline

• ‘Traditional’ security and privacy and the respective ‘quantum’ risks
• Basic concepts: ​
  • Quantum information theory / science, quantum physics / mechanics and quantum computing
  • Spin and Polarization
  • Wave and / or particle - Interference
  • Bit versus Qubit as ‘state’ or information
• The ‘quantum’ advantage ​
  • Superposition
  • Entanglement
  • Teleportation
  • No-cloning and no-communication
  • Phase (global, local) and Interference (constructive, destructive)
• Probabilistic vs deterministic: computation vs measurement/observation​
  • Peek into ‘quantum’ algorithms
  • ‘Real’ random numbers
  • Search and optimisation
  • Breaking current cryptography
• ‘Post-quantum’ ​
  • Encryption schemes
  • Secure key-exchange

Course Facilitator

Albert Pichlmaier   Senior Cybersecurity and Privacy Engineer Senior Learning Technology Designer, Drew Data Protection & Cybersecurity Academy