New IBM services offer optimal levels of privacy and security for sensitive data and information, based on the potential of cybersecurity and quantum cryptography.
IBM, the US-based technology giant, continues to move towards technological development and innovation. Through its cloud technology services, IBM Cloud, this technology giant offers the highest level of security and privacy that exists within the digital industry so far.
The company announced the launch of a new suite of privacy and data protection services based on the most advanced security techniques available in the industry today. The new suite of technology includes services such as Extended IBM Cloud Hyper Protect Crypto Services, a service dedicated to optimizing key management and cloud hardware security (HSM); and Quantum Safe Cryptography Support, a service that facilitates the secure transmission of data and information between the company and the cloud, based on quantum security.
With the integration of these new services, IBM can offer greater protection and security for the transfer and exchange of data and information in the cloud, guaranteeing an optimal level of security and privacy for users and clients.
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The era of quantum computing
Quantum computing is something that tech giants like IBM, Microsoft, and several others have been developing for several years now, and even though it hasn't had a wide range of applications or real-world use cases, quantum computing promises to be much more efficient than traditional computing, in every way.
As IBM, Microsoft and other companies are exploring and exploiting the potential of quantum computing, they say that malicious actors are also studying this potential to perfect their attack mechanisms and cyberthreats. IBM reports that in light of this reality, the company is preparing a series of new services that can deal with potential security risks efficiently and effectively.
IBM's new suite of products and services is focused on cybersecurity and cryptography quantum, two major areas of computer science and computing that significantly enhance the protection of existing data against future threats.
Data security and privacy in today's times
In an increasingly connected world, where billions of users and companies must handle sensitive information through networks and the Internet, privacy and security have become one of the main objectives of technology companies, especially because by being constantly connected, users are more vulnerable to attacks and cyber threats.
As technology evolves, malicious actors also refine their attack mechanisms to steal information from their victims and apply a series of strategies and methods to help them get their money.
Quantum computing is being developed to solve complex problems that even today's supercomputers cannot solve, but it can also be a potential risk to data security, breaking encryption algorithms and accessing protected information. Therefore, in light of this possible reality, IBM assures that it is preparing to contribute to the protection of existing data in the cloud, and to face future threats that could arise along with advances in quantum computing. IBM intends to anticipate a possible future, and provide effective solutions for its clients and users, in order to help them guarantee the protection of their data, applications and processes.
Quantum-Safe Cryptography and IBM Cloud Hyper Protect Crypto Services
As the company explains, the service Quantum Safe Cryptography It is intended to improve the standards used to transmit data between the enterprise and the cloud, helping to protect data through the use of a quantum-safe algorithm.
IBM is also developing a strategic agenda for the design of new security tools to protect the privacy of its users and customers. This agenda includes the research, development and standardization of basic quantum cryptography algorithms, as well as other open source tools such as CRYSTALS y OpenQuantumSafe.
For its part, IBM Cloud Hyper Protect Crypto Services is a service that seeks to ensure that only the user has access to their keys in the cloud, including the HSM master key. With this service, IBM ensures that companies and users can mitigate the risks of existing external and internal threats, as well as address regulatory compliance, in the case of companies.
This service also allows users to make transactions and exchange data and information in a completely secure manner, as it is built on FIPS-140-2 Level 4 certified hardware, considered the most secure in the industry for the protection of cryptographic keys, while ensuring that each user has exclusive and absolute control of their own keys.
Now, Does quantum computing also pose a risk to cryptocurrencies?Well, let's see.
Quantum computing: A threat to cryptocurrencies?
As we mentioned, IBM believes that quantum computing may have the potential to break encryption algorithms and access sensitive information held by its users in the cloud, so it is developing innovative solutions to protect itself from this potential threat. But what will happen to Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies?
Although for many people talking about quantum computing is talking about a distant future, it seems that it is not actually as far away as previously thought. Many experts in the field point out that, although it is not a topic that should concern users of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, Today, developers must prepare to face the future reality. Our currently highly secure asymmetric encryption systems could easily be broken by quantum computing if a line of defense, such as quantum cryptography, is not developed to develop new encryption algorithms that guarantee the security of cryptocurrencies.
However, while the risk is real, there are also unfounded fears, for example that Bitcoin will see its imminent end when quantum supremacy is achieved.
Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in the age of quantum computing
Bitcoin uses algorithms ECDSA y SHA-256 to create digital signatures and to encode information within your blockchain. And although these algorithms are vulnerable to quantum computing, Bitcoin does not base the security of its network solely on these two elements. In addition, the capacity required in a quantum computer to break these algorithms is quite high, and Google, which is the company with the most advanced quantum computer in the world so far, is still very far from achieving a capacity that would really threaten Bitcoin.
On the other hand, Bitcoin transactions integrate additional security measures, such as the application of a SHA-256 hash and RIPEMD-160 on the public keys, which makes it even more difficult for an attack from a quantum computer to be effective, by obfuscating the keys and making it impossible to attack them directly. Likewise, other technologies, such as Zero Knowledge Tests (ZKP), which already implement some cryptocurrencies such as Zcash, have enormous potential for resistance to quantum computing.
Thus, although in the field of cryptocurrencies, quantum computing may mean a risk in the future, we see how developers are already working on effective solutions that guarantee the security of cryptocurrencies, currently and in the future.
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