Acronis and ID Quantique offer quantum encryption for a safer cloud

29 Sep 2015

Collaboration to help companies protect data outside of the firewall and on mobile devices from future security threats and vulnerabilities.

Acronis, a data protection systems company, and ID Quantique, which specializes in quantum encryption of communications networks, have announced a joint collaboration designed to help protect companies from future security threats related to advances in decryption techniques and the arrival of quantum computing.

Acronis will work with ID Quantique to bring quantum-safe encryption capabilities to Acronis’ cloud solutions. This makes Arconis the first cloud data protection solution provider in the industry to do so.

These capabilities are intended to help companies protect the increasing amount of data that is stored or deployed outside of the company firewall and on multiple mobile devices, while also preventing unauthorized users – including hackers and cyber thieves – from accessing Acronis’s customer data under protection both in transit and while in the cloud.

Market fears

As more companies are using the cloud to backup, restore and recover data, ensuring data privacy and data security is a requirement for adoption. In fact, argues Acronis, many IT managers and security professionals still have serious concerns about data security and privacy in the cloud. A recent survey by the Cloud Security Alliance found that 73% of IT professionals are concerned about the security of data, making it the top reason for not adopting cloud solutions.

At the same time, today's security technologies are not keeping up with the sophistication of modern-day hackers, as well as advanced technologies, such as quantum computing.

The US National Security Agency has advised US agencies and businesses that all e-mail, personal records and online transactions will soon be vulnerable to quantum computing technology threats, and that today's encryption technologies will not protect them in the future. As a result, the NSA has announced plans to move to quantum-resistant algorithms for greater protection in the future.

Jon Oltsik, Senior Principal Analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group, commented, “Organizations face a vexing situation where they must improve cybersecurity defenses and oversight while simultaneously adopting new IT initiatives that often involve the cloud,. To ensure data privacy and security are never compromised, CIOs and IT Administrators will only work with vendors and cloud service providers who make security a big part of their technologies and service offerings."

Quantum encryption for cloud data protection

Acronis is focused on providing companies with complete data protection through an integrated set of solutions, including backup, disaster recovery, and file sync and share. The company believes that complete data protection – particularly for access and storage – not only requires the most advanced data safety, but also data security to protect companies from outside threats, and data privacy to ensure that companies stay in control of their data at all times – in transit, in the cloud and on mobile devices.

Acronis and ID Quantique plan to leverage quantum-safe encryption to provide the following increased security capabilities to Acronis’s cloud data protection solutions:

• Quantum-resistant encryption – ensures Acronis cloud data protection customers are safe from future cybersecurity threats and vulnerabilities with the most advanced encryption technology for data transfers to and from Acronis data centers.
• Quantum key distribution – also known as quantum cryptography, provides future-proof security for the backbone network that links Acronis' worldwide data centers.
• Quantum random number generators – produces high-quality, high-entropy, and highly secure keys for users to help prevent unauthorized access of data under Acronis’s protection.

Serguei Beloussov, co-founder and CEO at Acronis, (pictured, left), commented, “Quantum computing opens up a new world of cyber security threats that companies cannot ignore – especially those moving more IT operations like data protection to the cloud. We believe that data privacy and data security are critical requirements for complete cloud data protection, and we're working with leaders such as ID Quantique to innovate in areas like quantum-safe encryption.

"The result ensures that our cloud customers get the most secure solutions in the industry and most importantly are protected against future threats and attacks."

"Quantum-safe approaches are essential to guarantee long-term confidentiality of data," said Gregoire Ribordy, CEO at ID Quantique. "This kind of solution will become the de-facto standard for the cloud, and Acronis, as a first-mover, will have a strong edge."

About the Author

Matthew Peach is a contributing editor to optics.org.