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According to many specialists, quantum computers should appear within the next 10 years. This news raises fears of the worst for the cryptography sector: “Quantum machines will give computers such computing power that they will be able to break current cryptographic algorithms in just a few seconds”, explains Thales. This is an extremely serious threat: a hacker equipped with a quantum computer could steal an identity, falsify transactions or access confidential data without the slightest difficulty. The mission of post-quantum cryptography is therefore to enable conventional computers to withstand attacks from quantum computers.
It was with these quantum attacks in mind that NIST (the US National Institute of Standards and Technology) launched an international competition in 2017 to establish the standards that will govern post-quantum cryptography. 82 candidates from 25 countries took part. After 5 years of competition, Falcon, the algorithm co-developed by Thales, won and became one of the 3 algorithms serving as the standard for digital signatures. “What makes new algorithms such as Falcon quantum-resistant is the mathematical problems on which they are based, which are among the hardest to solve, even for a quantum computer”, Thales points out. This algorithm is the result of teamwork: the University of Rennes 1, IBM, PQShield SAS, NCC Group, Brown University and Qualcomm also took part in its creation.
“Thales has been at the forefront of research on post-quantum cryptography since 2013; the selection of the Falcon algorithm by NIST is recognition of the excellence of the co-development work and of the expertise of our encryption teams. We will continue the research under way in France and Europe to develop trusted, innovative post-quantum solutions, without sacrificing anything in terms of performance. We are already supporting our customers in their transition to a new generation of security solutions in order to avoid a future ‘cryptographic apocalypse’”, says Pierre-Yves Jolivet, Vice-President, Cyber Defence Solutions at Thales.
This text comes from a press release that our editorial team found interesting. If you are a company in the defence and security sector, feel free to send us yours at this address: contact@defense-zone.com
