2024 High–Level Panel: Trust and Security in the Quantum Era

16 OCT 2024

2024 High-Level Panel: Trust and Security in the Quantum Era

In the Quantum era, with the advent of quantum computing comes quantum risks which threaten to undermine the cryptographic foundations upon which digital trust is built, prompting the necessary re-examination of the way digital trust is secured and changes to cryptography and keys used. This High-Level Tech event for Quantum consists of two segements:

Opening Remarks
Mr Quek Gim Pew, Senior R&D COnsultant, Ministry of Defence, Singapore

Segment I: Securing Trust Amidst Quantum Risks
The advent of quantum computing, specifically with Cryptographically Relevant Quantum Computers (CRQCs), heralds an unprecedented computational prowess that introduces significant threats to cybersecurity in breaking existing public key infrastructure (PKI) and encryption systems. While CRQCs are still some years away from being realised, the threat of Harvest Now, Decrypt Later has brought forward the considerations of the need to address these risks today.

These quantum risks threaten to undermine the cryptographic digital trust foundations upon which we have built to compromise digital security and trust, and render confidential information vulnerable to malicious exploitation. The world needs to re-examine how we secure digital trust in the quantum era.

This panel aimed to stimulate a discussion to explore the current state of and the implications of quantum computing on digital security and trust. It also sought to address the challenges of building awareness and providing suitable advisories for quantum-safe solutions; and identify opportunities for international collaboration amongst governments and industry.

Panellists

  • Mr Alexey Bocharnikov, Asia Pacific Regional Leader for Quantum Security, Accenture- Prof Ronald Cramer, Head of the Cryptology Group, Centrum Wiskunde Informatica (CWI)
  • Dr Matt Henricksen, Principal Engineer, Huawei
  • Mr Chong Rong Hwa, Senior Director, Cyber Security Group (CSG), GovTech

Moderator
Dr Vikram Sharma, Chief Executive Officer, Quintessence Labs

Segment II: Key Changes Towards Quantum Safety
The quantum threat is real and there is a need to migrate to quantum safety. The challenge lies in the charting the quantum-safe migration journey, from the key changes to the organisation needs for the migration. These changes can relate to the assets, people, process, technology, and security.

The difficulty is exacerbated by the need to consider and change the crypto keys and algorithms used, often overlooked as they are usually assumed to be the strongest link in the cybersecurity chain.

Following the previous panel on awareness and advisories relating to the threat and risk, this panel examined the quantum-safe solutions aimed at mitigating these threats, and how assurance in these new solutions could be built. The discussion of the technical challenges in adopting and integrating these solutions led into an exchange on how we could chart a course to develop and operationalise quantum-safe solutions and strategies with agility to maintain digital resiliency and secure digital assets against the quantum threat.

Panellists

  • Mr John Buselli, Offering Manager, IBM Quantum
  • Mr Ben Packman, Chief Strategy Officer, PQShield
  • Dr Amelia Tan, Head Quantum Office, ST Engineering
  • Prof Ding Jintai, Professo, Tsinghua University

Moderator
Mr Gaurav Keerthi, Executive Vice President, Advisory and Emerging Business, Ensign InfoSecurity