Protecting the Future: International Cryptography Conference at UC Anticipates Quantum Computers

What comes next in the world of computing? Some experts predict that quantum computers could be a reality in as little as 10 years, and the potential that presents is the reason for an international gathering of experts from academia, industry and government this weekend at the University of Cincinnati.

The power of quantum computers – should they become a reality – would quickly overwhelm the public key cryptography methods that keep current information technology secure. Figuring out how to deal with this threat is the focus of "PQCrypto2008, the Second International Workshop on Post-Quantum Cryptography."

The conference takes place Oct. 17-18 at UC, with approximately 60 experts from around the world, including 40 from outside the United States, expected in attendance.

"People from all over the world are concerned about this issue," says UC Associate Professor of Mathematical Science Jintai Ding, who is co-chairing the conference along with Johannes Buchmann from Germany’s Technische Universitat Darmstadt. "We have attendees from the United States’ National Security Agency and from similar agencies from the governments of Germany, Great Britain and Japan. There will be top industry figures from companies like IBM, Cisco and Hitachi."

Adds Ding: "People in our field are very concerned about this issue. Should quantum computing overwhelm cryptography, things like secure telecommunications would become impossible and the modern communications systems would collapse. We would be in big, big trouble."

Current public key cryptography for the Internet and other secure communication systems is based on one of two standards – RSA, which is based on an algorithm and relies on the difficulty of factoring large integers, or ESS, which is based on hard-number theory problems. Neither, though, would be a match for the computing power that is theoretically possible through quantum computing. Thus, researchers in cryptography are now looking to develop new, more mathematically sophisticated protection schemes that could resist the power presented by quantum computers.

"This is a race of sorts to come up with the best system possible now, so hopefully, we can have it in place as the new standard by the time quantum computers are being built," says Tim Hodges, the department head of UC Mathematical Sciences and the general chair for the conference.

The program includes programs on four different cryptography approaches currently under development that could address the quantum computing issue:

• Code-based cryptosystems
• MPKC, or multivariate public key cryptography
• Hash-based cryptography
• Lattice-based cryptosystems

The University of Cincinnati is one of only a few U.S. universities doing research into this problem. The approach being tried at UC is MPKC-based, with Ding scheduled to be among a group making a presentation on square-vinegar signature schemes.

"This approach is based on very short and fast signature schemes that use the new idea of a finite field with odd characteristics," says Ding.

Besides Ding and Hodges, Professor of Computer Science Dieter Schmidt from the College of Engineering also is working in this area at UC.

The topic is generating significant interest among cryptography researchers in Europe and Japan.

The first occasion of an international workshop on this topic was held in 2006 at the Catholic University of Luven in Belgium, and was sponsored by a European consortium of researchers known as E-Crypt.

For more information on this year’s conference, visit the official conference Web page.