CASE STUDY large-scale systems , as evidenced by the hardware and software milestones achieved and planned on IBM ’ s Quantum Development Roadmap .
For example , IBM projects it will deliver its first errorcorrected quantum system by 2029 . This system is anticipated to run hundreds of millions of quantum operations to return accurate results for complex and valuable problems that are currently inaccessible to classical computers .
Looking further into the future , IBM ’ s roadmap includes plans to expand this system to run upwards of one billion quantum operations by 2033 . As IBM builds towards these goals , the company has already equipped experts across healthcare and life sciences ; finance ; materials development ; logistics ; and other fields with utility-scale systems to begin applying and scaling their most pressing challenges to quantum computers as they advance .
However , the advent of more powerful quantum computers could carry risks to today ’ s cybersecurity protocols . As their levels of speed and error correction abilities grow , they are also likely to encompass the ability to break today ’ s most used cryptographic schemes , such as RSA , which has long protected global data . Beginning with work started several decades ago , IBM ’ s team of the world ’ s foremost cryptographic experts continue to lead the industry in the development of algorithms to protect data against future threats , which are now positioned to eventually replace today ’ s encryption schemes .
NIST ’ s newly published standards are designed to safeguard data exchanged across public networks , as well as for digital signatures for identity authentication . Now formalized , they will set the standard as the blueprints for governments and industries worldwide to begin adopting post-quantum cybersecurity strategies .
IBM cryptographers are among those pioneering the expansion of these tools , including three newly submitted digital signatures schemes that have already been accepted for consideration by NIST and are undergoing the initial round of evaluation .
IBM continues to integrate post-quantum cryptography into many of its own products such as IBM z16 and IBM Cloud .
In 2023 , the company unveiled the IBM Quantum Safe roadmap , a three-step blueprint to chart the milestones towards increasingly advanced quantumsafe technology , and defined by phases of discovery , observation , and transformation .
The company also introduced IBM Quantum Safe technology and IBM Quantum Safe Transformation Services to support clients in their journeys to becoming quantum safe . These technologies include the introduction of Cryptography Bill of Materials ( CBOM ), a new standard to capture and exchange information about cryptographic assets in software and systems .
Welcoming the NIST announcement , cyber security specialist Karl Holmqvist , Founder and CEO , Lastwall , said : “ We have been warned by the heads of the NSA , the FBI and even the White House that there are active nation-state attacks stealing currently encrypted data and that we need to switch PQC algorithms . This announcement by NIST is fantastic and a positive progression for defense against a significant thread .
“ Time is not on our side to change to quantum-resistant ciphers . We need to address this now – it ’ s time to get to work and eliminate outdated cryptography .” p
In 2016 , NIST asked cryptographers worldwide to develop and submit new , quantum-safe cryptographic schemes to be considered for future standardization . In 2022 , four encryption algorithms were selected for further evaluation from 69 submissions chosen for review : CRYSTALS-Kyber , CRYSTALS-Dilithium , Falcon , and SPHINCS +.
In addition to continued evaluations to publish Falcon as the fourth official standard , NIST is continuing to identify and evaluate additional algorithms to diversify its toolkit of post-quantum cryptographic algorithms , including several others developed by IBM researchers .
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