Entry Details

About the Entry

Category: 
Online > Online Single Topic Coverage > Industry > New England

Title of entry: 
Quantum concerns

Issue or Publication date:
08/7/2024, 08/13/2024, 02/21/2024, 05/21/2024, 09/16/2024

Publication name: 
Network World

View Website home page:
https://www.networkworld.com/

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Entry URL(s), if applicable:
Please enter a URL that will direct judges to the entry: 
https://www.networkworld.com/article/3483859/post-quantum-encryption-crypto-flexibility-will-prepare-firms-for-quantum-threat-experts-say.html
Additional URLs, if needed:
https://www.networkworld.com/article/3486075/nist-finally-settles-on-quantum-safe-crypto-standards.html
https://www.networkworld.com/article/1308630/error-correction-breakthroughs-brings-quantum-computing-a-step-closer.html
https://www.networkworld.com/article/2114720/proof-of-concept-quantum-repeaters-bring-quantum-networks-a-big-step-closer.html
https://www.networkworld.com/article/3523669/ibm-microsoft-and-boeing-mark-advances-in-quantum-computing.html

Entry Essay: 
Network World provides content that addresses the technology developments essential to networking professionals who build and maintain the digital infrastructure that underpins modern business. We do that with a mix of online news, features, special packages, and a stable of expert bloggers.
The readers we target are practitioners who operate data centers that are housed on premises and within public clouds. Their task is to make the information that resides there secure and accessible to people and applications that need it. That simple goal is enormously complex and involves efficiently storing data as well as creating and constantly upgrading the networks over which this data travels. The responsibilities are varied: End users must be authenticated, communications must be protected, bandwidth must be adequate to minimize delay, attackers must be thwarted, and data must be gathered and analyzed.
The rise of artificial intelligence, which creates unprecedented demand for computing power, network capacity and data storage, is adding to the challenges faced by network operations teams. They’re under pressure to keep pace with skyrocketing volumes of traffic and increasingly complex hybrid- and multi-cloud environments.
Another technology that’s rapidly becoming important is quantum computing.
Quantum computing might seem more suited for science fiction than corporate data centers, particularly since commercial systems won’t be available for several years. But there’s a compelling reason for our readers to care about quantum advancements: The security of their systems, data and intellectual property will be at risk when bad actors gain access to quantum computers that are able to break common encryption algorithms.
Security experts believe attackers are already collecting data and planning for a future when they can decrypt it. That means corporate resources need to be protected now. As quantum computing advances, enterprises need to invest in encryption infrastructure and other post-quantum security technologies.
The prevailing sentiment has long been that quantum computers are still far in the distance, and that companies have plenty of time to prepare. “Well, it’s closer than you might think,” said Jennifer Addie, chief operating officer at advisory firm VentureScope, in an interview with our go-to reporter for quantum computing stories, Maria Korolov. “For those looking at the trajectory, the progress is significant and faster than most people expected to see.”
Maria Korolov has a knack for explaining complex technology in a readable way and highlighting the issues that are relevant to readers. Her coverage includes breaking news stories about post-quantum cryptography standards. For example, eight years after asking cryptographers to develop new encryption algorithms, the National Institute of Standards and Technology officially picked the world’s first three quantum-safe crypto standards so that the world has time to prepare for quantum’s arrival.
She has also kept close tabs on R&D milestones by major vendors and startups that have made error-correction breakthroughs that could accelerate the arrival of quantum computing. Even though we’re still years away from that, investors, governments, and large corporations are taking quantum computing seriously.
Overall, our news coverage elucidates the massive disruptive potential of quantum computing.