Acronis, the global leader in new generation data protection, and ID Quantique, the world leader in quantum-safe crypto solutions, today announced a joint collaboration to help protect companies from future security threats related to advances in decryption techniques and the arrival of quantum computing. Acronis will work with ID Quantique to bring quantum-safe encryption capabilities to Acronis cloud solutions, an industry first for a cloud data protection solution provider. The capabilities will help companies protect the increasing amount of data that is outside of the company firewall and on multiple mobile devices, while also preventing unauthorised users including hackers and cyber thieves from accessing Acronis customer data under protection both in transit and in the cloud.
Security is a Top IT Concern for the Adoption of Cloud Solutions
As more companies use the cloud to backup, restore and recover their data, ensuring data privacy and data security is a requirement for adoption. In fact, many IT managers and security professionals still have serious concerns about data security and privacy in the cloud. A recent survey by the Cloud Security Alliance found that 73 % of IT professionals said concerns about the security of data are a top challenge holding back cloud adoption.
At the same time, todays security technologies are not keeping up with the sophistication of modern-day hackers, as well as advanced technologies, such as quantum computing. The US National Security Agency (NSA) recently advised US agencies and businesses that all e-mail, medical and financial records, and online transactions, will soon be vulnerable to quantum computing technology threats, and that today’s encryption technologies will not protect them in the future. As a result, the NSA has announced plans to move to quantum-resistant algorithms for greater protection in the future.
Jon Oltsik, senior principal analyst, Enterprise Strategy Group said: “Organisations face a vexing situation where they must improve cyber security defenses and oversight while simultaneously adopting new IT initiatives that often involve the cloud. To ensure data privacy and security are never compromised, chief information officers (CIO) and IT Administrators will only work with vendors and cloud service providers who make security a big part of their technologies and service offerings”
Bringing Quantum Encryption to Cloud Data Protection
Acronis is focused on providing companies with complete data protection through an integrated set of solutions, including backup, disaster recovery and file sync and share. Acronis believes in complete data protection particularly for access and storage. This not only requires the most advanced data safety, but also data security to protect companies from outside threats, and data privacy to ensure that companies stay in control of their data at all times in transit, in the cloud and on mobile devices.
Acronis and ID Quantique will leverage quantum-safe encryption to provide the following increased security capabilities to Acronis cloud data protection solutions:
- Quantum-resistant encryption – ensures Acronis cloud data protection customers are safe from future cyber security threats and vulnerabilities with the most advanced encryption technology for data transfers to and from Acronis data centres.
- Quantum key distribution – also known as quantum cryptography, provides future-proof security for the backbone network that links Acronis worldwide data centres.
- Quantum random number generators – produces high-quality, high-entropy, and highly secure keys for users to help prevent unauthorised access of data under Acronis protection.
Serguei Beloussov, co-founder and CEO at Acronis said: “Quantum computing opens up a new world of cyber security threats that companies cannot ignore especially those moving more IT operations like data protection to the cloud. Acronis believes that data privacy and data security are critical requirements for complete cloud data protection and we are working with leaders such as ID Quantique to innovate in areas like quantum-safe encryption. The result ensures that our cloud customers get the most secure solutions in the industry and most importantly are protected against future threats and attacks.”
Gregoire Ribordy, CEO at ID Quantique said: “Quantum-safe approaches are essential to guarantee long-term confidentiality of data. This kind of solution will become the de-facto standard for the cloud and Acronis as a first-mover will have a strong edge.”
