Mon. Dec 23rd, 2024
Pqshield Secures Additional $37 Million For 'quantum Resistant' Encryption Technology

Malicious hacks are becoming more sophisticated, creating a very clear trend in security technology: security itself must continue to grow in complexity in order to keep people and organizations safe.

Security Startup PQ Shield The company is an early player in the concept, focusing on “post-quantum” cryptography — future-proof software and hardware solutions that would, in theory, be resistant to hacks performed using the most powerful quantum machines of the future.

Now the company has announced an additional $37 million in funding to meet industry demand to build hardware and related systems based on its research.

Addition, Lee Fixel’s investment firm, led the Series B along with other strategic and financial backers including Chevron Technology Ventures, Legal & General and Bravos Capital (all new investors) and previous backer Oxford Science Enterprises. Addition also led PQ Shield’s Series A in 2022. (When asked, the startup did not disclose the valuation.)

Ali El Kaafarani, a mathematician from Oxford who founded and leads the startup (which was also founded in Oxford), said the funding will be used to hire more staff and work more closely with existing and new clients and partners.

The list includes companies that PQShield did not name, such as AMD, Microchip Technologies, Collins Aerospace, Lattice Semiconductor, Sumitomo Electric, NTT Data, and Miraiz Technologies (Toyota/Denso R&D), and has advised the White House, the European Parliament, the UK National Cybersecurity Council, and the World Economic Forum. The company also works with some of the biggest names in the chip industry, and now the entire tech industry. NVIDIA.

“We still have the highest density of cryptographers in the industry, especially in the area of ​​quantum cryptography,” he said in an interview. In addition, there are some interesting developments happening on the standardization front that will also have an impact on the evolution of the field.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology in the United States 10 years On the idea of ​​establishing a quantum cryptography standard, Dr. El Kaafarani said it is something that is expected to be announced in the coming months: “We expect NIST, which published a draft in August last year, to publish an official standard in just a few weeks.”

What’s noteworthy is the role played by companies like PQShield and others in the same space. Shifera, Post-QuantumPalo Alto Networks and other large companies will discuss how they are approaching the evolution of technology and computing, and how leading companies are adopting more advanced encryption to protect users’ data at both the software and hardware layers.

A lot of the public discussion about encryption today centers around how it can be used to secure messaging platforms. (Notably, PQShield has provided its technology free of charge to the Signal Foundation, with whom it is “working on various research projects,” according to Dr. El Kaafarani.) And in the enterprise world, there’s a lot of talk about how security systems can use encryption to protect both data transmitted or shared within a corporate network and data transmitted or shared outside of it.

The next step will be how we process data in AI environments, including not only AI applications but also model training (and, of course, how we protect that data in a world where malicious hackers are using AI to get past all protections).

As an example, Apple is taking a new approach to privacy in AI computing: Private Cloud ComputingThe company says it will enable “private AI processing” by more tightly integrating its private cloud with its custom on-device silicon.

“AI will be another reason why we need to modernize our cryptography,” said Dr. El Kaafarani. “I believe that whether it’s Apple or other companies, they will start using post-quantum cryptography for their AI very soon, because they will have to change to the new standard and not go through classical cryptography.”

PQShield develops its solutions in three forms: systems-on-chips designed to sit on hardware like smart cards or processors, software via cryptographic SDKs that can be integrated into mobile and server apps and the technology used to process data and perform security operations, and toolkits for telecommunications companies designed specifically to secure messaging services. PQShield has an interesting perspective as it moves out of the pure deep tech realm and into more commercially viable tools, which is likely one of the reasons investors like Addition are particularly interested in it at a time when computing and chips seem to be evolving rapidly.

“PQShield continues to pioneer and serve as the leading authority in hardware and software quantum-resistant cryptography. As the NIST PQC project nears completion, we expect the newly approved standard will invigorate the quantum security market and drive rapid adoption of PQC across the technology supply chain,” Fixel said in a statement. “Thanks to an industry-leading team with decades of experience, PQShield has established a best-in-class product portfolio that is already leading the field. We are pleased to see the company build on its existing commercial success to secure our digital future.”