The University of South Florida\u2019s Bellini College of Artificial Intelligence, Cybersecurity
\n and Computing is joining forces with Cisco Research and leading researchers from Purdue,
\n Rutgers and Northeastern to prepare for the next wave of cyberthreats in post-quantum
\n cybersecurity. \u00a0<\/p>\n
The collaboration, funded by a $50,000 Cisco research grant, brings together experts
\n from academia and industry to develop quantum-resistant networks and protocols, vital
\n defenses against the kinds of attacks quantum computers could unleash in the future.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The research grant, \u201cQuantum-Resistant Networks and Systems: Primitives, Protocols,
\n and Best Practices,\u201d was awarded to a group of faculty from four major universities:
\n Principal Investigator Elisa Bertino at Purdue, Jaideep Vaidya at Rutgers, Christina
\n Nita-Rotaru at Northeastern, and Attila A. Yavuz at USF. Ashish Kundu leads the project
\n at Cisco Research. \u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe goal is to influence real-world standards and protocols for post-quantum secure
\n systems deployed in routers, servers and global networks,\u201d Yavuz, an associate professor
\n in the USF Bellini College of Artificial Intelligence, Cybersecurity and Computing,
\n said. \u00a0<\/p>\n
The four faculty members and their labs plan to establish a consortium within Cisco\u2019s
\n global post-quantum security working group. \u201cOur complementary expertise drives this
\n goal forward,\u201d Yavuz said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Each member leads work in a distinct domain. Yavuz specializes in applied cryptography,
\n designing algorithms that are resistant to both quantum and classical attacks, and
\n integrating these techniques into networked systems such as autonomous vehicles, satellites
\n and 5G cellular networks.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Strengthening defenses for a quantum future\u00a0<\/p>\n
For researchers like Yavuz, cybersecurity research is about more than just combating
\n present threats. It is a constant effort to stay ahead of the curve, at the cutting
\n edge, where theoretical threats and real-world adversaries present looming danger.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As part of the grant, the fourth awarded to the researcher since 2019, Yavuz\u2019s team
\n collaborates closely with Cisco\u2019s research group to analyze and test its cybersecurity
\n solutions. They assess Cisco\u2019s protocols for vulnerabilities, reinforce them against
\n potential quantum-enabled attacks, and develop new algorithms tailored to various
\n network and system architectures.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n
Why quantum computing changes the cybersecurity game<\/p>\n
The initiative, supported by Cisco\u2019s Head of Research, Ramana Kompella, and led by
\n the Head of Cybersecurity Research at Cisco Research, Ashish Kundu, demonstrates the
\n tech giant\u2019s commitment to making a significant impact in this field.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That\u2019s because these threats are not limited to credit card theft or blackmail. Critical
\n infrastructures such as smart grid systems are also vulnerable. For example, these
\n systems distribute energy to cities across the globe and require public internet infrastructure.
\n If a bad actor can get a key, they can compromise the system to cause failures and
\n grid overload. \u00a0<\/p>\n
That uncertain future is rapidly approaching with advances in artificial intelligence
\n and quantum computing. Quantum computers use principles of quantum mechanics such
\n as superposition and entanglement to create qubits, which can exist in combinations
\n of 0 and 1 states simultaneously. This allows certain algorithms to solve problems,
\n including the factoring of large numbers, much more efficiently than classical computers.
\n As a result, many widely used public key cryptographic systems are at risk, and the
\n transition to quantum-resistant cybersecurity methods has become essential.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Yavuz said that traditional cybersecurity relies on two pillars: public key encryption
\n and digital signatures. These are created using some highly difficult mathematical
\n problems, also referred to as intractable problems, for traditional computers. However,
\n large-scale quantum computers can solve some of them, such as \u201cfactorization of large
\n integers into prime factors\u201d and \u201cdiscrete logarithm problem.” \u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cTo the best of our knowledge, there are no fully functional and large-scale quantum
\n computers yet. However, the field is evolving very rapidly, and this threat does exist
\n at least with state-level adversaries,\u201d Yavuz explained. \u201cWhenever we enter the internet
\n and perform a credit card payment, all these protocols need authentication provided
\n by digital signatures, which serve as our identity. An adversary with an operational
\n quantum computer could extract someone\u2019s key and create fake certificates and identities.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Cisco Research is pursuing a multi-faceted approach to address quantum computer threats.
\n They are working on adapting NIST Post-Quantum Cryptography (NIST-PQC) standards and
\n also designing quantum key management methods that do not necessarily depend on NIST
\n PQC to provide additional security. Yavuz will focus on analyzing these solutions
\n and customizing the NIST PQC standards with a specialized design. \u00a0<\/p>\n
Partnerships that drive research impact and student success<\/p>\n
Industry-academic partnerships like this benefit both the company and the institution,
\n as well as the student researchers working on them.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI have received five unrestricted grants from Robert Bosch,\u201d Yavuz said. \u201cThat created
\n a very significant impact with publications and patents. One of my students is now
\n a tenure-track professor who started with an internship with Bosch.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Yavuz predicts a similar impact with Cisco in the development of new publications
\n and applications that can make a practical and intellectual impact.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIndustry standards meeting the highest academic research standards improve the quality
\n of both,\u201d he said. \u201cFrom an educational point of view, collaboration like this contributes
\n to training the next generation of cybersecurity experts. Aspects of our research
\n are integrated as a course module into our courses for both undergraduate and graduate
\n students.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The work is not kept in a silo. Alongside Alongside Kundu from Cisco Research and
\n Nita-Rotaru from Northeastern, Yavuz will co-chair the ACM Conference on Computer
\n and Communications Security Workshop on Quantum-Resistant Cryptography and Security
\n held in Taiwan in October, representing USF in a global academic setting.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The University of South Florida\u2019s Bellini College of Artificial Intelligence, Cybersecurity and Computing is joining forces with Cisco…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":30278,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[241,61,60,80],"class_list":{"0":"post-30277","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-computing","8":"tag-computing","9":"tag-ie","10":"tag-ireland","11":"tag-technology"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30277","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30277"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30277\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30278"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}