VeriQloud pitches quantum-safe data security tools

VeriQloud says organizations need to protect sensitive data now before quantum computers can break today’s encryption. The Paris-founded cybersecurity company is pushing tools for data at rest, in transit and in use, including products built for classical infrastructure and quantum cloud computing.

Why it matters: - Quantum computers could eventually break public key encryption such as RSA, putting sensitive records, financial data and intellectual property at risk. - VeriQloud says organizations need defenses now because stolen encrypted data can be stored and decrypted later in a “Harvest Now, Decrypt Later” scenario. - The company’s pitch is aimed at businesses that need quantum-safe protection before quantum machines become practical.

What happened: - VeriQloud, a cybersecurity company founded in 2017 in Paris, France, says it now serves customers from offices in North America, including Canada. - The company says it provides solutions for data security in a quantum world, with products focused on data at rest, data in transit and data in use. - Didier Guignard, VeriQloud’s head of business and research development in North America, said quantum computers are likely to be accessed through the cloud and that cloud-bound data must stay secure from unintended recipients and from the quantum computer itself.

The details: - For data at rest, VeriQloud offers Qasmat, which splits data into shares, applies classical encryption and stores the shares across multiple locations such as servers or clouds. - Qasmat is designed so an attacker would need access to a minimum number of shares to rebuild the original data, and the client can define that threshold. - The approach is meant to create time to detect unauthorized access at one storage location before other shares are found. - Qasmat does not rely on encrypted keys or on classical mathematical techniques that may be vulnerable to future quantum attacks. - For data in transit, VeriQloud uses Qline, which relies on Quantum Key Distribution, or QKD, for cryptographic protection. - Qline is described as a fully open and flexible system whose optical, electronic or software components can be customized for client needs. - VeriQloud says it integrated QKD into Deutsche Telekom’s wavelength-division multiplexing system without replacing the existing metropolitan fiber-optic network. - For data in use, VeriQloud is researching QEnclave, a secure quantum cloud computing solution based on blind quantum computation protocols. - The company says QEnclave is inspired by Universal blind quantum computation, a protocol co-invented by VeriQloud co-founder and scientific director Dr. Elham Kashefi with Anne Broadbent and Joseph Fitzsimons. - VeriQloud says UBQC lets a server carry out a quantum computation without learning the client’s inputs, outputs or computation. - QEnclave is intended to keep a user’s data and algorithm inaccessible to the server used to perform the computation.

Between the lines: - VeriQloud is positioning itself as a bridge between today’s classical infrastructure and tomorrow’s quantum threats. - The company is emphasizing practical deployment, not just theory, by highlighting products that work on existing systems and can be customized for different networks. - The strongest business case is urgency: organizations may need to inventory data and plan migration before quantum-capable attackers arrive.

What's next: - VeriQloud recommends that organizations start with a full data inventory covering hardware and software infrastructure. - The company says that inventory should map how sensitive data is stored, transmitted and used. - VeriQloud says organizations can then build a protection plan that uses existing and future technology and is prepared for the quantum era. - The company says its solutions can support that planning as quantum technology advances.