Canada’s spies closely watching quantum tech developments

CSE sees both “advantages and disadvantages” in quantum computing’s ability to crack modern encryption techniques.

Thestar.com
April 20, 2016
By Alex Boutilier

Canada’s electronic spies are working on ways to defend government systems from the “impending threat” of quantum computing, a document obtained by the Star shows.

The Communications Security Establishment warned chief Greta Bossenmaier that emerging quantum technology could “easily break” today’s strongest methods of protecting electronic information.

“A new class of technologies that operates at quantum speeds is beginning to move from the domain of academic curiosity into the world of commercial technological reality,” the memo, heavily censored and stamped secret, reads.

“Quantum computing poses an impending threat to widely-deployed public-key cryptography (PKC) and therefore has a significant impact on any information being protected with PKC.”

Governments, journalists, activists and hackers have increasingly turned to public-key encryption to protect information. Journalists protect sources, activists and hackers protect themselves and the people they communicate with, and governments protect classified or sensitive information from theft or eavesdropping.

When implemented correctly, it is very difficult for malicious actors - even with serious resources and expertise - to crack the code.

But quantum technology greatly increases the power and speed of computer functions, allowing computers to break today’s strongest encryption methods.

On the other, CSE notes that quantum technology can be used to create “unbreakable” encryption for communications - but that technology is “extremely challenging” to deploy and manage, especially on a large scale.

As a result, CSE has focused their efforts on developing a “quantum resistant algorithm” for “Medium (Security) Assurance/Commercial” information. The memo stated the algorithm aims to strengthen traditional encryption, but the agency says their efforts “are still unfolding.”

While the uncensored portion of the memo deals with defence against quantum attacks, the document does not make clear if CSE is exploring using quantum to break encryption, themselves. And while it has become a pressing topic in the United States, with the FBI trying to force Apple to “unlock” their customers’ phones, there has been relatively little debate about encryption in Canada.

The Star requested an interview with CSE to discuss the memo Monday afternoon. In a written statement Tuesday evening, CSE media relations said the agency is looking at quantum primarily from a defensive perspective.

“We are focused on defensive use of quantum technology,” wrote CSE spokesperson Ryan Foreman.

“Specifically, we are focusing our efforts in response to the threat of quantum to protecting and encrypting sensitive Government of Canada information.”

Foreman added that CSE believes quantum will eventually be able to improve the agency’s protection of sensitive information.

CSE is also clearly interested in partnering with academic institutions developing new quantum technology. According to the memo, CSE has a partnership with the University of Waterloo’s Institute for Quantum Computing (IQC).

IQC is a world-leading research outfit on quantum computing, and is affiliated with Waterloo’s Perimeter Institute of Theoretical Physics. The Perimeter Institute, founded by BlackBerry co-founder Mike Lazaridis, just received a $50 million, five-year grant from the federal government.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that funding on Friday, giving reporters a brief primer on quantum computing that drew a fair amount of attention. In their first public post on Twitter Tuesday, the CSE joked that they were “into quantum computing before the Prime Minister made it cool.” The document reviewed by the Star supports that assertion.

IQC executive director Raymond Laflamme said that CSE is “very interested” in the work the institute does. But he noted that the widespread use of quantum computing is still many years away.

IQC and MIT currently hold the world record for the most “qubits” - quantum bits - used in an experiment, with 12. Teams across the world are attempting to assemble a quantum computer with 100 qubits within five years. To break today’s encryption, Laflamme said, you would need to work with thousands of qubits.

“We’re at 10, so you’re still pretty safe,” Laflamme said with a laugh.

Still, Laflamme said that since all information transmitted on the Internet is stored somewhere, it might be possible to go back and access encrypted files once quantum computing is a reality. That has national security agencies, including the NSA in the United States, trying to grapple with quantum encryption sooner rather than later.