Cloudflare has recently announced that it will be launching post-quantum cryptography support for all websites and APIs that run under the platform’s network.
Y2K came and went with little much happening despite all the frantic hustle and bustle before it; or, rather, precisely because of it since people decided to dedicate enough time and effort to fixing problems before they arise. For those of you too young to remember Y2K (and I suddenly feel my joints creaking), the term means “the year 2000”, and refers to what was essentially a potential glitch. Since computer calendars were formatted to read dates as DD/MM/YY, the final two numbers depicting the year, 2000 were essentially indistinguishable from 1900. This seemingly minor overlap could potentially have wreaked havoc across multiple airports and other infrastructures reliant on computers since faulty dates could lead to absolutely nothing being executed or planned on time. US President Bill Clinton even went on air to commend software programmers on their efforts towards stopping Y2K, calling it the first challenge of the 21st century.
Now, we’ve got a new Y2K to deal with: Y2Q, or just Y2K with quantum technology as the new adversary. Online safety and security have come a long way, with platforms such as Cloudflare being majorly responsible for such developments. Nowadays, almost every, if not all, legitimate online platforms have some form of a secure connection to them. You as a user have probably encountered them as well, with examples being repeatedly encountering captcha puzzles while running incognito browsing. Quantum computing technology, which I will completely admit to not fully understanding right now, will allow cybercriminals and the like to develop methods via which public-key cryptography can be undermined. Essentially, a padlock works rather well against several keys but will fall to a hammer nonetheless.
However, progress has already been made to prepare for Y2Q; a day which most experts believe isn’t particularly far and will be encountered within the next decade even. While NATO and the White House have already made preparations, more commercial and conventional platforms such as Cloudflare have also started work. The platform’s devs have already released a statement on the matter as well. They believe that all encrypted data online has a 15-40-year deadline issued by the looming threat of quantum technology, and work needs to be done immediately to prepare for future instances. Therefore, all Cloudflare websites and APIs now support post-quantum hybrid key agreements, as part of beta testing service.
Read next: 65% of Business Leaders Think the Metaverse is the Future of Work
Y2K came and went with little much happening despite all the frantic hustle and bustle before it; or, rather, precisely because of it since people decided to dedicate enough time and effort to fixing problems before they arise. For those of you too young to remember Y2K (and I suddenly feel my joints creaking), the term means “the year 2000”, and refers to what was essentially a potential glitch. Since computer calendars were formatted to read dates as DD/MM/YY, the final two numbers depicting the year, 2000 were essentially indistinguishable from 1900. This seemingly minor overlap could potentially have wreaked havoc across multiple airports and other infrastructures reliant on computers since faulty dates could lead to absolutely nothing being executed or planned on time. US President Bill Clinton even went on air to commend software programmers on their efforts towards stopping Y2K, calling it the first challenge of the 21st century.
Now, we’ve got a new Y2K to deal with: Y2Q, or just Y2K with quantum technology as the new adversary. Online safety and security have come a long way, with platforms such as Cloudflare being majorly responsible for such developments. Nowadays, almost every, if not all, legitimate online platforms have some form of a secure connection to them. You as a user have probably encountered them as well, with examples being repeatedly encountering captcha puzzles while running incognito browsing. Quantum computing technology, which I will completely admit to not fully understanding right now, will allow cybercriminals and the like to develop methods via which public-key cryptography can be undermined. Essentially, a padlock works rather well against several keys but will fall to a hammer nonetheless.
However, progress has already been made to prepare for Y2Q; a day which most experts believe isn’t particularly far and will be encountered within the next decade even. While NATO and the White House have already made preparations, more commercial and conventional platforms such as Cloudflare have also started work. The platform’s devs have already released a statement on the matter as well. They believe that all encrypted data online has a 15-40-year deadline issued by the looming threat of quantum technology, and work needs to be done immediately to prepare for future instances. Therefore, all Cloudflare websites and APIs now support post-quantum hybrid key agreements, as part of beta testing service.
Read next: 65% of Business Leaders Think the Metaverse is the Future of Work
