Supercomputer hacking halted by new algorithm

IT experts at Monash University have devised what is claimed to be the world’s leading post-quantum secure privacy-preserving algorithm — so powerful it can thwart attacks from supercomputers of the future.

Announced at the 23rd Australasian Conference on Information Security and Privacy, the Lattice-Based One Time Ring Signature’s (L2RS) enhanced security and privacy-preserving features enable large transactions and transfer of data without risk of being hacked by quantum computers and privacy revoked by unauthorised users.

According to Dr Joseph Liu, Director of the Blockchain Research Lab at Monash, data security will become essential as quantum computing gets closer to being able to unravel the technology that underpins the security of blockchains — a milestone estimated to reach the world within the next 10 years. He and his fellow IT experts consider L2RS as a significant leap forward in maintaining data security, user privacy and integrity for blockchain technology as the race to build powerful quantum computers gains momentum.

“The L2RS deploys cryptographical techniques to protect the privacy of users,” said Dr Liu. “It allows any user to hide his identity among a group of users. The transaction amount will be hidden as well. No-one knows how much money has been transferred in each transaction.

“It is also post-quantum secure. That is, even in the existence of the future powerful quantum computer — which can easily break the current security algorithms such as RSA — Hcash is still secure and user privacy remains preserved.”

Dr Liu said blockchain has legitimate potential to change the world to create new foundations for economic and social systems, and a working quantum computer could, in theory, break today’s cryptography. “Therefore, Hcash has a significant advantage over other cryptocurrency exchanges even after the practical rise of quantum computers,” he said.

The launch of L2RS is part of a research partnership between Monash University, Collinstar Capital and Hong Kong Polytechnic University to advance Hcash as a virtual cryptocurrency exchange far superior to Bitcoin.

Image caption: Joseph Liu.