Quantum Security? Yep, Someday

October 24, 2023

Note: This essay is the work of a real and still-alive dinobaby. No smart software involved, just a dumb humanoid.

How is this for a brilliant statistical item: “61% of Firms Worry They Are Unprepared for Security Risks in Quantum Era.”

The write up reports with apparent seriousness:

Some 61% have expressed concern their organization is not and will not be prepared to handle security implications that may surface in a post-quantum computing future, according to a survey conducted by Ponemon Institute. Commissioned by DigiCert, the study polled 1,426 IT and cybersecurity professionals who have knowledge of their company’s approach to post-quantum cryptography. Among them were 605 from the US, 428 in EMEA, and 393 across Asia-Pacific.

Apparently some people missed one of the largest security lapses since 9/11. Israel’s high profile smart cyber security capabilities was on leave. The result is what is labeled as the Israel Hamas war. If the most sophisticated cyber security outfits in Tel Aviv cannot effectively monitor social media, the Web, and intercepted signals for information about an attack more than a year in planning, what about the average commercial operation? What about government agencies? What about NGOs?

Boo, I am the quantum bully. Are you afraid yet? Thanks, MidJourney. Terrible cartoon but close enough for horse shoes.

Yet I am to accept that 61 percent of the survey sample is concerned about quantum compromises? My hunch is that the survey sample respondent checked a box. The other survey questions did not ferret out data about false belief that current technology makes these folks vulnerable.

I don’t know where the error has spread. Was it the survey design? The sample selection? The interpretation of the data? The lax vetting of the survey results by ZDNet? Or, maybe a Fiverr.com contractor doing the work for a couple of hundred dollars?

Quantum when today’s vanilla services fail? Wow, some people are thinking about the future, assuming today is peachy keen in the cyber security department. Marketers are amazing when the statement, “Let’s do a survey,” and off to the races and lunch the folks go.

Stephen E Arnold, October 24, 2023

Written by Stephen E. Arnold · Filed Under cybersecurity, Marketing, News

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Stephen E. Arnold monitors search, content processing, text mining and related topics from his high-tech nerve center in rural Kentucky. He tries to winnow the goose feathers from the giblets. He works with colleagues worldwide to make this Web log useful to those who want to go "beyond search". Contact him at sa [at] arnoldit.com. His Web site with additional information about search is arnoldit.com.