How far are quantum computers from becoming a ubiquitous technology? The recent developments in the quantum computing realm indicate that such a day is not far away. In fact, the world is going to witness a quantum revolution much sooner than previously stipulated. Now, while it is positive news in terms of humankind’s next big technological leap, it also raises a few concerns in the cybersecurity realm. Some business leaders believe that once quantum computers become mainstream, it won’t be long before cyberterrorists get their hands on advanced computers to scrape data or eavesdrop on communication. And when that happens, the cybersecurity strategies from the pre-quantum era would amount to nothing and crumble like a house of cards in the wind. All things considered, many businesses are somewhat reluctant to upgrade their cybersecurity measures in regard to the upcoming quantum era. They believe preparing for a quantum era before it actually dawns upon us would unnecessarily trim their operational budget. But what if there is a way for businesses to set up their cybersecurity measures for the quantum age without any additional expenses?
Enter Castle Shield.
The company has developed a “quantum-resistant architecture” (QRA) that enables its clients to deploy quantum-resistant cybersecurity solutions at a cost similar to any other contemporary cybersecurity product. “We help our clients become future-ready and safeguard themselves for the forthcoming quantum age,” states Dr. Milton Mattox, Chief Technology Officer of Castle Shield.
An Illustrated Cybersecurity Solution Suite built on QRA
According to Mattox, Castle Shield’s QRA forms the foundation for all its cybersecurity applications. The security solutions built on QRA can be broadly categorized into three distinct product lines based on their core functions, i.e. encryption, security information event management (SIEM), and regulatory compliance.
Fides, the first of the three, is a quantum-resistant encryption (QRE) solution that also acts as a common element in all Castle Shield’s cybersecurity products. The QRE uses a licensed polymorphic encryption core to overlay with existing symmetric encryption algorithms and strengthen them further. For example, the QRE makes traditional advanced encryption standard (AES) 256 as strong as AES 3092, without affecting performance. “We use the same symmetric encryption ciphers as that of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and National Security Agency (NSA), but we wrap them with an extra layer of an algorithmic security to fortify the symmetric encryption efficacy while removing performance latencies from the clients’ hardware or application environment,” shares Mattox. Thus, even if any information is compromised, Castle Shield’s robust encryption makes it completely unusable to the attacker.
Crafting Tangible Benefits
Such an approach to cybersecurity has undoubtedly helped Castle Shield become a burgeoning market leader in this space. As an example, Castle Shield is working with a new client who is in the managed security services provider (MSSP) space. The client is running Castle Shield’s SIEM product to keep track of the security information events occurring across the client’s enterprise. As security information events are aggregated at the client’s site and data center, the information is then sent to the Castle Shield cloud-based SIEM server. As an extra layer of security, Castle Shield uses its Aeolus VPN data-in-motion product to establish a secure, encrypted connection between the client’s server and the Castle Shield cloud server. This way, the client’s security information events are kept safe and secure as the information is in transit between servers. “At Castle Shield, we believe strongly that sensitive and confidential data should be encrypted as much and often as possible. Even security information events should be encrypted before they are transmitted to the collection server so that the data is not compromised,” says Mattox.
Striding ahead with similar success stories, Castle Shield aims to bring quantum-resistant data security solutions to the masses in a very cost-effective way. Castle Shield is actively seeking to help healthcare providers, doctors, and nurses communicate safely with each other with its secure, private, and safe chat apps. At the same time, the company ensures the healthcare providers stay HIPAA compliant. Castle Shield is all set to expand in the financial as well as legal sectors. “Our roadmap consists of going beyond the normal industries that are concerned about data security and target industries that may not be thinking as much about the security and privacy of their data at this point,” concludes Mattox.
