Monash University researchers and CSIRO have developed an algorithm to enhance online transactions using end-to-end encryption against quantum computer attacks, enhancing their security.
Researchers from Monash University’s Faculty of Information Technology and CSIRO’s Data61 have developed the most efficient quantum-secure cryptography algorithm, ‘LaV’, to improve end-to-end encryption security, with potential applications in instant messaging services, data privacy, cryptocurrency, and blockchain systems.
End-to-end encryption is a method to secure digital communication between sender and receiver, ensuring no one, including communication system providers, telecom providers, internet providers, or hackers, can access the transmitted information between the sender and receiver.
According to Monash University, a large-scale quantum computer could break current encryption within minutes, allowing it to access encrypted information more easily than a normal computer or supercomputer, which would take millions of years to do so.
Dr Muhammed Esgin, lead researcher of the collaborative quantum security project co-funded by Monash University and CSIRO’s Data61, said the new cryptography tool will help make end-to-end encryption more secure, allowing online services to withstand future hacks or interference from the most powerful quantum computers.
“While end-to-end encryption protocols are quite well established and are used to secure data and messaging in some of the most popular instant messaging applications across the world, currently they are still vulnerable to more sophisticated attacks by quantum computers,” Dr Esgin said.
“This new cryptographic tool can be applied to various mobile applications and online transactions that use end-to-end encryption and is the first practical algorithm that can be used to fortify existing systems against quantum computers.”
Associate Professor Ron Steinfeld, research co-author and a quantum-safe cryptography expert, stated that current technology software is not being developed in anticipation of the emergence of more powerful computing devices.
“Over the past few years we have seen many significant cyberattacks and data leaks in Australia alone, clearly showing that we need to pay much more attention to cybersecurity and mitigate vulnerabilities in our systems before such vulnerabilities are exploited by attackers,” Associate Professor Steinfeld explained.
Associate Professor Steinfield said governments and Standards organisations worldwide are preparing for the potential emergence of large-scale quantum computers, which could potentially compromise encryption systems.
“Our past experience has shown the process of updating encryption algorithms deployed in existing online systems can also take a decade or more to complete. This means that we need to urgently start updating our cybersecurity infrastructure to use quantum-safe cryptography, to ensure our systems are protected before the approaching quantum threat is realised,” Associate Professor Steinfeld added.
The research, conducted in collaboration with Dr Dongxi Liu and Dr Sushmita Ruj from CSIRO’s Data61, was presented at Crypto 2023, the 43rd International Cryptology Conference, held in Santa Barbara, USA.
“The National Institute of Standards and Technology has been standardising methods like encryption and digital signatures to protect basic internet security in a post-quantum world. However, these measures are not enough to protect advanced security applications. Our research is filling this gap,” Dr Liu said.
“Our new algorithm has been implemented into code by Dr Raymond Zhao from CSIRO’s Data61 and is available open source.”
As the next step, the research team is advancing to develop a fully quantum-secure key transparency protocol that can be easily integrated into encryption applications.