IBM is releasing a series of cloud services and technologies designed to help clients maintain the highest available level of cryptographic key encryption protection to help protect existing data prepare for future threats in the cloud.
Pioneered by IBM Research scientists, the company is now offering quantum-safe cryptography support for key management and application transactions in IBM Cloud, making it the industry's most holistic quantum-safe cryptography approach to securing data available today, according to the vendor.
The new capabilities include:
- Quantum Safe Cryptography Support: Through the use of open standards and open source technology, this service enhances the standards used to transmit data between enterprise and Cloud, helping to secure data by using a quantum-safe algorithm.
- Extended IBM Cloud Hyper Protect Crypto Services: New capabilitiesare available to enhance privacy of data in cloud applications, where data sent over the network to cloud applications and sensitive data elements like credit card numbers, are stored in a database that can be encrypted at application-level – supported by the industry's highest level of cryptographic key encryption protection with 'Keep Your Own Key' (KYOK) capability.
"As our reliance on data grows in the era of hybrid cloud and quantum computing capabilities advance, the need for data privacy is becoming even more critical. IBM now offers the most holistic quantum-safe approach to securing data available today and to help enterprises protect existing data and help protect against future threats," said Hillery Hunter, vice president and chief technology officer, IBM Cloud. "Security and compliance remain front and center for IBM Cloud as we continue to invest in confidential computing and our leading encryption capabilities to help enterprises of all kinds—especially those in highly regulated industries—keep data secured."
To mitigate risks IBM has developed a clear strategic agenda to help protect the long term security of its platforms and services.
This agenda includes the research, development and standardization of core quantum-safe cryptography algorithms as open source tools such as CRYSTALS and OpenQuantumSafe.
It also includes the governance, tools, and technology to support clients as they start on the same journey to a more secure future.
As the next step in that agenda, IBM is bringing its industry-leading encryption capabilities built by IBM Research cryptographers to help clients with a quantum-safe cryptography approach for their data-in-transit within IBM Cloud.
The capabilities are designed to help enterprises prepare for future threats and can be useful against attacks in which malicious actors harvest encrypted data today with the intent to decrypt it later as quantum computing advances.
IBM Key Protect, a cloud-based service that provides lifecycle management for encryption keys that are used in IBM Cloud services or client-built applications, has now introduced the ability to use a quantum-safe cryptography enabled Transport Layer Security (TLS) connection—helping to protect data during the key lifecycle management.
In addition, IBM Cloud is also introducing quantum-safe cryptography support capabilities to enable application transactions.
When cloud native containerized applications run on Red Hat OpenShift on IBM Cloud or IBM Cloud Kubernetes Services, secured TLS connections can help application transactions with quantum-safe cryptography support during data-in-transit and protect from potential breaches.
For more information about this news, visit www.ibm.com/cloud/.