Quantum supremacy: data security and the race for encryption standards in the post-quantum world

The world's daily data - estimated to be 44 zettabytes - is protected by seemingly impregnable encryption algorithms as it traverses the digital universe. However the advent of game-changing quantum technologies threatens these digital defences.

In her talk Chair of Cyber Security Professor Delaram Kahrobaei reveals how the speed and power of quantum computing could soon break these protective codes, just as Turing cracked Enigma. With more than 294 billion emails a day, some of which contain bank details and perhaps your unique DNA profile (if you’ve signed up for an ancestry trace) this is a serious worry. So serious that the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has fired the starting gun on a race to develop the next generation of cryptography before quantum supremacy is achieved.

Professor Kahrobaei looks at the runners and riders in this race, asks whether those leading the quest for new security standards may have backed the wrong horse and what this might mean for both our personal and our national security. 

Part of YorkTalks, a day of inspirational short talks about the world-leading research happening at York.

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