How the Quantum Internet Will Revolutionise Secure Communications

Passwords can be tricky – whether you set, store, or secure them – but they can be the difference between a secure account and billions of records being leaked online.

Companies across every industry run the risk of a privacy break – no matter whether you’re a live entertainment provider, like Ticketmaster, or a global technology giant, like Microsoft.

What can we do to protect employees, customers, and their data? While it may seem as simple as setting a stronger password, as many unwitting victims have seen in recent years, the power of modern classical computers is rapidly making many forms of encryption useless, even for the most security-conscious users.

New technology, particularly in the field of quantum computing, holds promise as one potential solution to the emerging password crisis. While students will continue to study online postgraduate courses using traditional computers, the potential applications of quantum technology may reshape our internet in ways previously unheard of.

Contemporary Computing Challenges

Computers, as we know them, are incredibly powerful devices. With the right parts, they can be configured to do great things – create incredible films, find cures for diseases, and, with even a small amount of power, operate outside our Solar System.

Classical computing, as we know it, has challenges. For example, consider stirring liquid in a teacup. The calculations required to understand fluid mechanics can be immensely complex, a challenge that current computers struggle with.

Another area of concern is password security and encryption. The world is facing a cryptography crisis – with a recent cybersecurity leak posting nearly ten billion user passwords online, one of the largest password leaks ever. System administrators and other IT professionals find themselves in a constant battle with bad actors – increasingly needing to improve their security protocols against a constantly evolving opponent.

The Impact of Quantum Technology

Conventional computing had a transformative effect on the world, but it took many years for it to truly make a mark on the global landscape. The last two decades have seen the rapid proliferation of data across the Internet, with the sheer volume, variety, and variability of data causing problems for even the most seasoned researcher.

The introduction of quantum computing will disrupt traditional computers in some ways, but for many person-to-person interactions, such as web conferencing, it’s unlikely that quantum technology would offer any material benefit. For many users of technology today, the way that they use the internet will largely remain unchanged.

For a small proportion of users, particularly in information technology, quantum computing will rapidly improve the ability of system administrators to defend against external threats. As quantum computing advances in capability, it may one day supplant some traditional computing applications.

Quantum computing offers a series of novel opportunities – notably, a technology that could interface through the use of quantum entanglement while also working at speeds far faster than conventional computers. Secure telecommunications could be enhanced using advanced technologies such as quantum encryption, eliminating the need for the physical exchange of secret keys (a trend often found in many workplaces).

Securing The Quantum Internet

The idea of an internet backed by the principles of quantum mechanics poses some interesting questions – notably, what would it take to get it working? In its current form, quantum computing is at a very nascent stage of development, with the largest quantum computers requiring immense amounts of power and cooling to operate efficiently. As the technology evolves, however, it’s expected that quantum computers will eventually shrink in size.

Like the traditional internet, a quantum internet will require significant investment. The internet, as we currently know it, is largely run off of a mix of wired and wireless connections, with many older parts adapting old telephone wiring. It’s hard to believe that today’s modern internet is largely a hodgepodge of older equipment – a quantum internet, built from the ground up, enables the best technology to be implemented as early as possible for the benefit of all.

Research is already underway to develop the technologies necessary to make a large-scale quantum internet successful. For example, researchers around the world are researching state-of-the-art optical fibres in the hope of identifying the data transmission tools necessary for large-scale quantum supremacy. However, there is still more work to be done to ensure that the implementation of a quantum internet is not only effective but also safe for users.

Imagine The Possibilities

As with any new technology, the time it takes for it to develop and eventually come to market can be long and difficult. The quantum internet may be in its early stages now, but none of us really know how long it will take to truly take off.

So, the next time you hear about new computing technologies in the news – take a moment and consider how they might fit into the workplace. You never know – perhaps the next quantum innovation be the one that transforms your workplace.

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