Google and Nasa Show Off

Google and Nasa Show Off Ridiculously Fast Quantum Computer

Google and Nasa have given  the world a first proper look at its joint effort experimental quantum super computer.

Both companies have been experimenting with the cutting edge technology for over two years now, and the public display last Tuesday has led some commentators to wonder if Google and NASA might not just have won the race to build the world’s first fully viable and fully functional quantum computer.

When NASA and Google announced that they were to collaborate on building a quantum super computer, back in 2013, not all that many people were sure it would actually work. Some even  queried whether even if a quantum computer could be built if would be faster than a conventional super computer.
But now  it seems the garden shed sized black box currently being housed in NASA’s Advanced Super computing facility in the heart of Silicon valley might have silenced its critics. What’s even more surprising is that despite its size it’s actually considered to be quite small, for a super computer.
The D-Wave 2X quantum computer works on fundamentally different principles than both regular computers and also regular super computers. Whereas standard computers operate using bits that can be either 1 or 0, quantum computing uses bits that can use both 1 and 0 at the same time. It all gets a bit more complicated after that, but essentially what it all means is that quantum computing should be a lot faster, because in theory, quantum computers will be able to perform calculations at much greater speeds. That was the science bit.
While the D-Wave 2X is in effect just a prototype machine, Google and NASA engineers announced last Tuesday that it could execute a common benchmark optimization equation 100 million times faster than a conventional desktop PC running a single core processor. Of course while that does sound rather impressive, it should be noted that these days even budget smartphones typically come with quad core processors.  Still, it’s a pretty good analogy for all that.
Quantum computing may be the future of computing, but it will be a long time before anyone can order one online. Designing and building a quantum computer is beset with difficulties. Part of the reason that the D-Wave computer is so big is because of the refrigeration system needed to keep the quantum computing chip at practically absolute zero degrees. For the rest of us, that’s -273 degrees Celsius.
The head of Google’s Quantum Artificial Intelligence Lab, Hartmut Nevin, said the latest test results were encouraging and intriguing, but that quantum computing still had a long way to go before it could be turned into anything resembling a practical technology. Google, NASA, and others working on the problems of Quantum computing still aren’t sure just what a fully commercially viable quantum computer could actually be used for.

Quantum Computer Hacking

 

Ordinary Computers Will Be Safe From Quantum Computer Hacking

German research engineers have successfully managed to develop what they think will protect regular computers from the future danger of Quantum computer hacker attacks.  

The scientists at Ruhr-Universität Bochum (RUB) are in the middle of working toward the practical application of current technology to defend “data against threats of tomorrow with the devices available today.” 

While the era of the quantum computer  itself is only in its infancy, and beset with difficulties such as the fact that quantum processors have to be cooled at a pretty frosty -273 degrees Celsius, as well as being ridiculously expensive; the implications of what quantum computing could one day achieve are worrying from a security point of view.
Google have claimed its D-Wave 2X quantum computer is 100 million times faster than a conventional desktop PC running a single core processor.” In the wrong hands, this could mean that hackers would be able to successfully use “brute force” attacks against commonly used encryption protocols and access confidential and private information.
Faced with this future possibility, the engineers at RUB have been developing and discovering new types of cryptographic techniques that will hopefully ensure “security even in the era of the quantum computer.”
While to ordinary layman IT writer (me) taking preventative steps against potential quantum computing hacking may seem like jumping the gun, the team behind the Post Quantum Cryptography project at RUB think not.
According to ScienceDaily.com “Cryptography is implemented in many devices with a long service life, for example in satellites. Those devices have to remain secure in many years’ to come. Likewise, micro devices handling long-term critical data, such as electronic health cards, require cryptographic systems that are secure in the long term.”
By incorporating existing encryption techniques and merging them with other complex and innovative solutions, RUB engineers think they may have the means to blunt the future danger of the type of quantum computer utilized to hack encrypted systems, and do it with today’s technology.
In any case, this at least answers SoL’s comment  about hacking with quantum computer’s from the original article I wrote about quantum computing:
“Hackers must be eagerly awaiting for this to arrive ASAP, exploiting the hell out of existing conventional computers and breaking cryptography will be much less time consuming with QC. Looks like Darth Vader is on it’s way.”

 

Oracle Settles With FTC Over Faulty Java Security

Google Sending Messages To Webmasters For SSL/TLS Certificate Not Matching

Google starts notifying webmasters of broken SSL/TLS certificates. Will this lead to a stricter HTTPS ranking factor?

Google is now sending some webmasters notifications when their SSL/TLS certificates do not match their domain names. The new notification was first spotted by @MediaWyse.
It had the subject, “SSL/TLS certificate does not include domain name,” with the message:

Google has detected that the current SSL/TLS certificate used on [domain] does not include [domain] domain name. This means that your web site is not perceived as secure by some browsers. As a result, many web browsers will block users accessing your site by displaying a security warning message. This is done to protect users browsing behavior from being intercepted by a third party, which can happen on sites that are not secure.

I’d expect to see more flavors of these SSL/TLS warnings from Google and for Google to become stricter about the ranking boost for HTTPS sites.
Currently, HTTPS errors don’t affect whether the site gets an HTTPS ranking boost, even if it isn’t valid; if it is on an HTTPS URL, it would get the boost. But these notifications show two things: (1) Google wants to notify webmasters when there are issues with their SSL/TLS certificates; and (2) Google is aware of it. Meaning, I’d suspect, that in the future, Google will update their HTTPS algorithm to not give the ranking boost for pages that have SSL/TLS issues.
Here is a screen shot of the notification:

Zineb from Google did confirm Google is sending these notifications, saying, “[W]e are now letting users know about issues with their TLS certs.”

 

Bitcoin Creator Finally Identified (Maybe)

According to Wired Magazine, Satoshi Nakamoto,  the pseudonym given to the creator of digital currency Bitcoin may be none other than 44 year old Australian cryptoligist Craig Steven Wright.

‘Either Wright invented bitcoin,’ Wired’s report states, ‘Or he’s a brilliant hoaxer who very badly wants us to believe he did.’

Such revelations must be handled with care though. It is not the first time that the creator of the world’s most famous digital has been ‘unmasked.’ Back in March, 2014, Newsweek named a 64 Japanese American, Dorian Nakamoto, from Los Angeles as being the brains behind Bitcoin, and Newsweek ended up being sued after the claims proved to be false.

“Newsweek’s false report has been the source of a great deal of confusion and stress for myself, my 93-year old mother, my siblings, and their families.” Nakamoto said in a statement.

This time round though, Wired think it may definitely have its man for sure. According to Wired, leaked emails and documents between Wright and his lawyers prove that Wright is the man in charge of running Bitcoin.

The weight of Wired’s evidence does make for a credible claim, showing “publicly visible connections between Nakamoto and Wright:”

However, despite what in literal terms would add up to a mountain of circumstantial evidence, Wired itself admits that nothing they have discovered ‘fully proves that Wright is Nakamoto.’

Whether Wright is or isn’t the creator of Bitcoin, he is without doubt an interesting character.  The man has 2 PHD’s and once boasted of picking up new graduate degrees at the rate of one a year. He is also a serial entrepreneur having started companies as diverse as security consultancies to an actual Bitcoin bank. As well as all that, Wright is, apparently, an avowed climate change denier.