Cryptography Watch

IBM To Standardize on PGP Whole Disk Encryption Internally

January 30th, 2008

Network World is reporting that IBM will standardize on PGP Whole Disk Encryption internally. The deployment will include 355,000 employees and is aimed at protection of company assets, privacy law compliance, and prevention of data loss. PGP Whole Disk Encryption (Technical Specs) is supported on the Microsoft Windows and Apple Mac OS platforms. There was no word on what solution IBM employees running Linux will use.
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Posted in PGP | Comments Off

NIST Announces Cryptographic Hash Algorithm Design Competition

November 9th, 2007

The National Institute of Standards and Technology has announced a design competition for a new hash algorithm (Federal Registrar Notice). The new algorithm is to be called SHA-3 and will augment, rather than supplant, the hash algorithms currently specified in the Secure Hash Standard (FIPS 180-2). Submissions must be received by October 31, 2008.

The security of the SHA series of hashes was brought into question when a Chinese researcher demonstrated that higher order algebraic attacks could be useful in attacks against SHA0 and SHA1.

Posted in Hash Algorithms, Standards | No Comments »

Germany Passes Anti-Internet Anonymity Law

November 9th, 2007

Germany has enacted an internet traffic data retention law. A list of how the German representatives voted is available. This law will likely mean the end of Tor exit nodes in Germany as of 2009 when sanctions of the law will take full effect. A challenge as to the constitutionality of the law is expected.

Posted in Anonymity & Privacy, Rights and Politics | No Comments »

RFC4880: Updated OpenPGP Standard Specification Published

November 7th, 2007

An updated OpenPGP Message Format specification standard has been published by the IETF in RFC4880.

Posted in PGP, Standards | No Comments »

Swiss Elections To Use Quantum Communication Links

October 15th, 2007

A New Scientist article reports that Swiss Election officials have revealed that a Quantum Communication link will be used in the upcoming national election to protect the integrity of votes during transmission. Votes tallied at counting centers in the state of Geneva will be transmitted to the government’s central data repository over the connection. The goal according to Geneva state chancellor Robert Hensler, is to “verify that data has not been corrupted in transit between entry and storage”.

Quantum Communications links have seen very limited usage so far. Even Government and Military applications have seem to have seen infrequent deployment. Some individuals have started that they think that the anti-eavesdropping quantum communication technology is a bit of a gimmick to suggest security may stronger and better deployed than it actually is. This may be in part due to the fact that Quantum Communication links are often called “unbreakable” and “encryption” when in actuality they are neither of those things. For example, Frank Jordans with the Associated Press made that mistake in his coverage of the Swiss technology deployment. Data is typically encrypted with a standard algorithm, such as AES or a stream cypher before being transmitted. CryptoWatch has covered TeleColoning as a possible method for eavesdropping on Quantum Communication links and MIT scientists have simulated such an attack in order to prove that it is possible.

However, it cannot be argued that the technology does not provides additional security. I believe the lack of adoption is due primarily to the level of skill and knowledge necessary to properly deploy the technology and the overall cost of such deployments. However, the Swiss have found an excellent and worthwhile early use. With a highly charged election on the horizon it makes good sense to attempt to strengthen and reinforce the machinery of democracy against attack be any those who would seek to corrupt or defeat it - foreign or domestic. Perhaps, in the future there will be parallel highly secure Quantum Communication Link networks available that any one can use for an additional metered cost, much like toll roads.

Posted in Quantum Cryptography, Voting | No Comments »

MIT to Host Series of Talks on Recent Advances in Microfluidics

May 16th, 2007

On May 24th, 2007, The MIT Center for Bits and Atoms will host a day long series of talks on recent advances in Microfluidics.

Draft Agenda:
Advances in modern microfluidics are leading to renewed interest in fluidic mechanisms for coding and computation, aimed at integrating the logic of control systems with the materials that they manipulate. This workshop will gather together researchers who are scaling fluidic logic down in size and up in complexity with prospective users in a wide range of application areas, to explore this emerging intersection of physical science and computer science. Along with presenting current research, the meeting will seek to foster collaborative development of new capabilities and applications, and help articulate a roadmap for future work.

Attendance is open to the public but requires registration with Susan Murphy-Bottari <susan@cba.mit.edu>

Posted in Computational Power, Emerging Technologies, MIT | No Comments »

IBM Announces Nanotechnological Process to Improve Conventional Chips

May 3rd, 2007

IBM brings nature to computer chip manufacturing
UAlbany’s College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering plays critical role in IBM technology breakthrough

Armonk, NY – IBM today announced the first-ever application of a breakthrough self-assembling nanotechnology to conventional chip manufacturing, borrowing a process from nature to build the next generation computer chips.

The natural pattern-creating process that forms seashells, snowflakes, and enamel on teeth has been harnessed by IBM to form trillions of holes to create insulating vacuums around the miles of nano-scale wires packed next to each other inside each computer chip.

In chips running in IBM labs using the technique, the researchers have proven that the electrical signals on the chips can flow 35 percent faster, or the chips can consume 15 percent less energy compared to the most advanced chips using conventional techniques.

The IBM patented self-assembly process moves a nanotechnology manufacturing method that had shown promise in laboratories into a commercial manufacturing environment for the first time, providing the equivalent of two generations of Moore’s Law wiring performance improvements in a single step, using conventional manufacturing techniques.

This new form of insulation, commonly referred to as “airgaps” by scientists, is a misnomer, as the gaps are actually a vacuum, absent of air. The technique deployed by IBM causes a vacuum to form between the copper wires on a computer chip, allowing electrical signals to flow faster, while consuming less electrical power. The self-assembly process enables the nano-scale patterning required to form the gaps; this patterning is considerably smaller than current lithographic techniques can achieve.

A vacuum is believed to be the ultimate insulator for what is known as wiring capacitance, which occurs when two conductors, in this case adjacent wires on a chip, sap or siphon electrical energy from one another, generating undesirable heat and slowing the speed at which data can move through a chip.

Until now, chip designers often were forced to fight capacitance issues by pushing ever more power through chips creating, in the process, a range of other problems. They have also used insulators with better insulating capability, but these insulators have become tenuously fragile as chip features get smaller and smaller, and their insulating properties do not compare to those of a vacuum.

The self-assembly process already has been integrated with IBM’s state-of-the-art manufacturing line in East Fishkill, New York and is expected to be fully incorporated in IBM’s manufacturing lines and used in chips in 2009. The chips will be used in IBM’s server product lines and thereafter for chips IBM builds for other companies.

“This is the first time anyone has proven the ability to synthesize mass quantities of these self-assembled polymers and integrate them into an existing manufacturing process with great yield results,” said Dan Edelstein, IBM Fellow and chief scientist of the self- assembly airgap project. “By moving self assembly from the lab to the fab, we are able to make chips that are smaller, faster and consume less power than existing materials and design architectures allow.”

Edelstein led the IBM team that invented the technique to use copper wiring in computer chips instead of aluminum, now a standard method for producing chips, ushering in a decade of chip innovations from the IBM labs that transformed how chips were built and used across many industries and applications.

The Secret of Self Assembly

The secret of IBM’s breakthrough lies in how the IBM scientists moved the self-assembly process from the laboratory to a production manufacturing environment in a way that can potentially yield millions of chips with consistent, high performance results.

Today, chips are manufactured with copper wiring surrounded by an insulator, which involves using a mask to create circuit patterns by beaming light through the mask and later chemically removing the parts that are not needed.

The new technique to make airgaps by self-assembly skips the masking and light-etching process. Instead IBM scientists discovered the right mix of compounds, which they pour onto a silicon wafer with the wired chip patterns, then bake it.

This patented process provides the right environment for the compounds to assemble in a directed manner, creating trillions of uniform, nano-scale holes across an entire 300 millimeter wafer. These holes are just 20 nanometers in diameter, up to five times smaller than would be possible using today’s most advanced lithography technique.

Once the holes are formed, the carbon silicate glass is removed, creating a vacuum between the wires — know as the airgap — allowing the electrical signals to either flow 35 percent faster, or the chips can consume 15 percent less energy.

Self assembly is a concept scientists have been studying at IBM and in labs around the world as a potential technique to create materials useful for building computer chips. The concept occurs in nature every day: it is how enamel is formed on our teeth, it’s the process that creates seashells and it’s what transforms water into complex snowflakes. The major difference is, while the processes that occur in nature are all unique, IBM has been able to direct the self-assembly process to form trillions of holes that are all similar.

This new technology can be incorporated into any standard CMOS manufacturing line, without disruption or new tooling. The self assembly process was jointly invented between IBM’s Almaden Research Center in San Jose, California and the T.J. Watson Research Center in Yorktown, New York. The technique was perfected for future commercial production at the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering of the University at Albany, within the world-class Albany NanoTech facilities, a research and development site in Albany, New York with strong ties to IBM, and at IBM’s Semiconductor Research and Development Center in East Fishkill, N.Y.

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About CNSE. The UAlbany CNSE is the first college in the world dedicated to research, development, education, and deployment in the emerging disciplines of nanoscience, nanoengineering, nanobioscience, and nanoeconomics. In May 2006, it was ranked as the nation’s number one college for nanotechnology and microtechnology in the Annual College Ranking by Small Times magazine. CNSE’s Albany NanoTech complex is the most advanced research facility of its kind at any university in the world: a $3.5 billion, 450,000-square-foot complex that attracts corporate partners from around the world and offers students a one-of-a-kind academic experience. CNSE houses the only fully-integrated, 300mm wafer, computer chip pilot prototyping and demonstration line within 65,000 square feet of Class 1 capable cleanrooms. Over 1,600 scientists, researchers, engineers, students, and faculty work on site at CNSE’s Albany NanoTech complex, including IBM, AMD, SONY, Toshiba, Qimonda, Honeywell, ASML, Applied Materials, Tokyo Electron, and Freescale. An expansion currently underway will increase the size of CNSE’s Albany NanoTech complex to over 750,000 square feet, including over 80,000 square feet of Class 1 cleanroom space, to house over 2,000 scientists, researchers, engineers, students, and faculty by the end of 2008. For more information, visit http://www.cnse.albany.edu/.

Posted in Computational Power | No Comments »

Controllably Coupled Qubits Demonstrated

May 3rd, 2007

NEC, JST and RIKEN successfully demonstrate world’s first controllably coupled qubits
Newly developed circuit technology enables execution of quantum algorithm

Tokyo, May 3, 2007–NEC Corporation, Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) and the Institute of Physical and Chemical Research (RIKEN) have together successfully demonstrated the world’s first quantum bit (qubit) circuit that can control the strength of coupling between qubits. Technology achieving control of the coupling strength between qubits is vital to the realization of a practical quantum computer, and has been long awaited in the scientific field.

The quantum computer, when it is finally brought to fruition, is expected to far surpass the capabilities of even the most modern of today’s supercomputers. Actual computing in a quantum computer is carried out by manipulating the quantum state of qubits in time sequence by external controls. To achieve such manipulation, it is necessary to control the: 1. States of individual qubits, 2. States of two qubits (logic operation), and 3. Ability to turn on /off the coupling between qubits.

NEC, JST, and RIKEN have already announced successful development of key technologies for the world’s first solid-state qubit and the world’s first two-qubit logic gate, based on solid-state technology that excels in its ability to integrate qubits. Following these achievements, the research group addressed the controllable coupling of qubits as the next logical step in realization of a practical quantum computer. Their new research result represents the world’s first successful demonstration of controllably coupled qubits.

To date, the coupling of qubits has been difficult to control. In order to realize this control, the research group devised an original mechanism that employs another qubit in between the two qubits for coupling. The coupling qubit functions as a non-linear transformer that is able to turn on and off the magnetic coupling between the two qubits, and on/off control is achieved simply by inputting a microwave. Moreover, coupling operation has been achieved without shortening the lifetime of each qubit. Scalability is also realized through the repetition of coupled two-qubit units - a feature necessary for future quantum computers.

To demonstrate the operation feasibility of the controllable coupling scheme, the research group employed a coupled two-qubit system, the smallest quantum logic unit, to carry out a multi-quantum control experiment involving the turning on and off of the coupling. As a result, a simple quantum protocol has been successfully demonstrated, allowing controllable coupling for the execution of quantum algorithms.

In the near future, NEC, JST, and RIKEN, plan to implement a larger-scale, more elaborate quantum computation, aiming for the realization of a practical quantum computer.

The result of this joint research will be published in the May 4th issue of the international weekly science journal, Science, published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

###

Paper Title: Quantum Coherent Tunable Coupling of Superconducting Qubits

A part of this research has been carried out under the following JST project:

* Project Name: Core Research for Evolutional Science and Technology (CREST)
* Research Area: “Creation of New Technology Aiming for the Realization of Quantum Information Processing Systems” (Research
* Supervisor: Professor Yoshihisa Yamamoto, National Institute of Informatics / Stanford University)
* Research Theme: “Superconducting Qubit System”
* Research Director: Jaw-Shen Tsai, Fellow, NEC Nano Electronics Research Laboratories / Laboratory Head, Riken Frontier Research System
* Research Period: 2003 to 2008

NEC PRESS CONTACTS

Japan

Diane Foley
d-foley@ax.jp.nec.com
+81-3-3798-6511 Asia Pacific

Masako Hirano
m-hirano@bccs.nec.com.sg
+65-63792570

Europe

Chris Shimizu
chris.shimizu@uk.neceur.com
+44-20-8752-2794

America

Kazuko Andersen
Kazuko.Andersen@necam.com
+1- 212-326-2502

RIKEN PRESS CONTACT

Public Relations Office
RIKEN
+81-48-467-9272

JST PRESS CONTACT

Mikiko FUKUSHIMA
Public Relations Division
Japan Science and Technology Agency
+81-3-5214-8404

Posted in Quantum Computing | No Comments »

Singapore Announcemences Quantum Computation Research Center

May 2nd, 2007

ChannelNews Asia reports that Singapore has announced a S$150m in funds for a Quantum Computation research center to be located at the National University of Singapore. The research center will be called the Research Centre of Excellence on Quantum Information Science and Technology, or QIST.

Statements senior Singaporian officials indicate that the center will work on Quantum Communication and Quantum Cryptography. Specifically, on communication systems which make use of the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle to preclude tapping. Professor Ekert, Director of the Research Centre of Excellence, suggested that the motivation behind the creation of the center was partially to provide domestically manufactured versions of such communications systems. The validation testing of secure communications devices can be difficult, problematic, and expensive.

The high level of recent interest in Quantum Communication Technology may indicate that the technology is nearing a level of development which will allow for widespread application. MIT has recently announced a Quantum Computation research center and scientists at MIT have been examining the security of Quantum Communication Devices, like those developed by BBN.

Posted in Quantum Computing, Quantum Cryptography | No Comments »

US Supreme Court Decision Makes Crypto Patents More Difficult to Get

April 30th, 2007

The United States Supreme Court has issued a ruling in a patent litigation case that will make it more difficult for patents on cryptosystems and cryptographic algorithms. The KSR International Co. v. Teleflex Inc. ruling raises the bar on applicant proof that an invention is “non-obvious”.

Posted in Chilling Effects, Legal Matters, Rights and Politics | No Comments »