Mobile Computing: computing

Wednesday, 19 December 2012

Beating the dark side of quantum computing

Nov. 16, 2012 — A future quantum computer will be able to carry out calculations billions of times faster than even today's most powerful machines by exploit the fact that the tiniest particles, molecules, atoms and subatomic particles can exist in more than one state simultaneously. Scientists and engineers are looking forward to working with such high-power machines but so too are cyber-criminals who will be able to exploit this power in cracking passwords and decrypting secret messages much faster than they can now.

Now, Richard Overill of the Department of Informatics at King's College London is working in the field of digital forensics to develop the necessary tools to pre-empt the cyber-criminals as quantum computing becomes reality. Writing in the Int. J. Information Technology, Communications and Convergence, Overill explains that while quantum computing is in its infancy, as with earlier technological leaps once the nuts and bolts are in place, it will be adopted rapidly by computer scientists and others eager to utilise its enormous potential.

The technologies that will underpin quantum computing will be quite esoteric to the non-specialist and include laser-excited atomic ion traps using beryllium or calcium atoms, bulk liquid-phase and solid-phase nuclear magnetic resonance, as well superconducting solid-state circuits operating at liquid helium temperatures. Of course, the semiconductor, silicon chip technology underpinning current supercomputers is perhaps just as esoteric although seems more familiar to us now.

Nevertheless, it is not the complexities of the technology that is important but what it will allow computer users to do such as solving logistics problems by overlaying all possible solutions and allowing quantum mechanics to find the optimal route, for instance. Or creating encryption keys that could never be cracked by a conventional computer. And, as Overill warns, providing those intent on cracking passwords and such to apply computational brute force with immeasurable efficiency. Such power might be wielded by crime fighters and criminals alike.

"At first sight, therefore, it would appear that with the advent of practical quantum computers the task of cyber-law enforcement will become significantly more challenging," says Overill. However, as has always been the case with crime and crime fighting, forensics constantly plays catch up with the technology exploited by criminals and so too with quantum computers. Overill provides a roadmap for how research into digital forensics must progress if crime fighters and investigators are to keep up with the pace of change.

Currently there is no answer to beating quantum crime. "There are ultimate physical limitations on what forensic information can be recovered from a quantum computation," says Overill. Forensic has always had such limitations but investigators are adept at obtaining clues regardless. "So, our digital quantum forensics mission has to focus on learning how to get 'more from less', by squeezing every last drop of information from the traces that can be recovered, and then devising novel techniques to interpret these traces as richly as possible."

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Inderscience, via AlphaGalileo.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

Journal Reference:

Richard Overill et al. Digital quantum forensics: future challenges and prospects. Int. J. Information Technology, Communications and Convergence, 2012, 2, 205-211

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

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Researchers identify ways to exploit 'cloud browsers' for large-scale, anonymous computing

Nov. 28, 2012 — Researchers from North Carolina State University and the University of Oregon have found a way to exploit cloud-based Web browsers, using them to perform large-scale computing tasks anonymously. The finding has potential ramifications for the security of "cloud browser" services.

At issue are cloud browsers, which create a Web interface in the cloud so that computing is done there rather than on a user's machine. This is particularly useful for mobile devices, such as smartphones, which have limited computing power.The cloud-computing paradigm pools the computational power and storage of multiple computers, allowing shared resources for multiple users.

"Think of a cloud browser as being just like the browser on your desktop computer, but working entirely in the cloud and providing only the resulting image to your screen," says Dr. William Enck, an assistant professor of computer science at NC State and co-author of a paper describing the research.

Because these cloud browsers are designed to perform complex functions, the researchers wanted to see if they could be used to perform a series of large-scale computations that had nothing to do with browsing. Specifically, the researchers wanted to determine if they could perform those functions using the "MapReduce" technique developed by Google, which facilitates coordinated computation involving parallel efforts by multiple machines.

The research team knew that coordinating any new series of computations would entail passing large packets of data between different nodes, or cloud browsers. To address this challenge, researchers stored data packets on bit.ly and other URL-shortening sites, and then passed the resulting "links" between various nodes.

Using this technique, the researchers were able to perform standard computation functions using data packets that were 1, 10 and 100 megabytes in size. "It could have been much larger," Enck says, "but we did not want to be an undue burden on any of the free services we were using."

"We've shown that this can be done," Enck adds. "And one of the broader ramifications of this is that it could be done anonymously. For instance, a third party could easily abuse these systems, taking the free computational power and using it to crack passwords."

However, Enck says cloud browsers can protect themselves to some extent by requiring users to create accounts -- and then putting limits on how those accounts are used. This would make it easier to detect potential problems.

The paper, "Abusing Cloud-Based Browsers for Fun and Profit," will be presented Dec. 6 at the 2012 Annual Computer Security Applications Conference in Orlando, Fla. The paper was co-authored by Vasant Tendulkar and Ashwin Shashidharan, graduate students at NC State, and Joe Pletcher, Ryan Snyder and Dr. Kevin Butler, of the University of Oregon. The research was supported by the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Army Research Office.