With quantum computing on the horizon, the threat to data security is growing by the minute. As it exists in its current form, cryptography won’t be enough to protect individual or business data from a cryptanalytic attack by a quantum computer. The algorithms just won’t stand up.
Worse still, the amount of data that needs protecting is set to skyrocket in the next decade. By 2025, it is predicted that global data will grow to 163ZB, 10 times the amount stored in 2016. We need to act now, before the task becomes unfathomably huge.
Put simply, quantum problems require quantum solutions. This is why quantum-secure storage can meet the dual challenges of managing exponential growth in storage requirements and compliance
reporting.
At the moment, the world runs on centralized data storage systems, reduced to a few monopolizing companies. Currently, there are relatively few options for data storage, and the most-used databases are enormous.
The problem with a centralized storage system is that one single security breach, virus, or hack could jeopardize the entire database.
That risk could run to millions, even billions of pieces of data.
But data centralization isn’t just risky; it’s also unfair. While it was highly effective as an initial solution, it too often results in the unfair distribution of assets and resources. Terms and conditions associated with the systems protect the data giants, not the individuals or small businesses.
Meanwhile, the users of these centralized data systems have no choice but to accept the conditions or be prohibited from participation.
What is more, third parties engage in fierce competition to keep their data customers within their own ‘walled gardens,’ so interoperability is neither profitable nor beneficial to these providers.
Customers can be forced to join and identify themselves in multiple communities and in doing so, often lose control of their data.
The next major development in technology is quantum computing, and it is going to be a major security headache unless we make plans now.
The fact of the matter is that most of the popular public-key algorithms currently used to encrypt data can easily be broken. In fact, most of our security algorithms now rely on one of three mathematical problems, all of which are solvable by a quantum computer running just one algorithm.
This means the security systems we have in place now won’t stand up to a quantum attack.
In large part, our individual lives and businesses are built around online systems - commerce, healthcare appointments, communication, and more. And with the Internet of Things growing at a rapid pace, we are now seeing a vast digitization of our human existence.
But with this greater digitization comes greater vulnerability – and greater repercussions if there is a security breach.
It is time to take back control of our data.
For a time, it was convenient to have our data managed by third parties. The systems they put in place allowed our online lives to thrive. Businesses grew and communication was transformed totally.
But with quantum computing bringing these new threats and risks, the situation has changed. Now, we must remove third-party data management completely and instead put data in a decentralized, pioneering new community-driven metaverse guarded by quantum-safe algorithms. And the good news is that by doing so, we can achieve a level of online security that third parties have never attained.
But how?
First, today’s data management systems often mean that individuals lose control of their data.
Taking third parties out of data management gives people and businesses self-sovereignty. With decentralized, sovereign IDs, we can all have a safe on/off ramp to the metaverse that keeps each of us fully in control of our own data.
Second, security is obviously going to be a huge benefit. By moving data storage to quantum-safe file systems in a decentralized, trustless network, we will have the double benefits of protection from quantum attack and the guarantee that our data can’t be corrupted.
And finally, individuals and businesses alike can regain ownership of their own data. DigiCorp’s self-sovereign digital asset wallet allows consumers and organizations to manage all their own digital assets and personal data in all forms and formats directly. No more third parties: full control.
Although quantum computers do not yet have the processing power to break any tough cryptographic algorithms, it will not be long before they start to appear.
In July last year, Chinese researchers claimed to have developed the fastest quantum computer to date. To prove its speed, researchers from the Zuchongzhi project completed a calculation that would take a normal supercomputer eight years to do, in little more than an hour.
Academics and industry leaders around the world are starting to prepare for a time when quantum computing manifests itself as not only the new normal, but as the greatest threat to data security.
Businesses and individuals need to get ahead of the game before it is too late. Even the world’s largest enterprises aren’t safe. Facebook alone has seen over a billion users affected by data breaches. And in April 2020, hackers stole and put up for sale 500,000 Zoom passwords.
These are breaches that were made with the ordinary computers of today. But once quantum computers have the power to break existing security algorithms, the fight will be lost.
It is critical that we move to a safe, secure data storage model right now. But there is some good news. In DigiThree and DigiLife, the technology already exists for businesses and individuals, respectively. With these solutions, the exponential growth in both data storage requirements and compliance reporting can be met, with secure data that drives both global business operations and individual lives.
DigiThree eliminates data storage-related security risks and threats with reliable, sustainable, easy-to-integrate solutions. And as the name suggests, it’s a three-pronged attack:
Meanwhile, DigiLife will establish a secure ecosystem for consumers, including NFT transactions, full
Metaverse SID integration, and the launch of digital assets that integrate with Metaverse wallets.
The message is clear. Whether you are a business or an individual, it is time to protect your data.
