Revolutionizing Network Security: Sitehop's Innovative Approach to the Post Quantum Cryptography Transition

Guest blog by Ben Harper, CTO and Co-Founder at Sitehop #techUKCyberInnovation

Last month, the US agency National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) released a groundbreaking new Post Quantum Cryptography (PQC) standard. This standard, set to revolutionize modern asymmetric cryptography, and essential to protect sensitive data in the coming era of quantum computers which can easily break today’s cryptographic methods, will be a pivotal point in the commercial and government sectors over the next 5-10 years. The US federal agencies estimate a cost of $7.1B by 2035 for this transition.

The transition to PQC has already started, marking a significant shift in the way data is protected from threat actors as these encryption algorithms evolve, a change that has not occurred in the past 50 years where they have remained constant. This evolution necessitates the swapping out or updating of cryptographic algorithms as the technology to crack them evolves, a requirement known as cryptographic agility.

Today’s encryption technologies achieve this agility using software, which easily achieves this as it is simple to upgrade and can be almost infinitely adapted to new encryption requirements. However the resulting encryption capability is slow compared to dedicated hardware systems and power-hungry owing to the need to use multiple processors running the code in an attempt to get the best speed possible. These two factors make it unsuitable for the current needs for enterprise data rates, which are reaching 100’s of Gbits/second. As mentioned, dedicated hardware can be designed to run much faster and at much lower powers than software, these devices are called Application Specific Integrated Circuits (or ASICs) but these, by their very nature are not crypto-agile and must be redesigned and manufactured each time an algorithm change is required. A final method to avoid the use of slow software encryption in high-speed networking is to decide not to encrypt the data at all, but instead rely on the security of a “private wire” purchased at high cost from a national or international carrier or telco. In the USA this can cost around $10,000/month for a single 100Gbits/sec connection and so is becoming a major cost for enterprise networking as bandwidth requirements increase.

Sitehop believes that the solution is to use a reprogrammable hardware device such as a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) to get crypto agility and high throughput. These devices are built on hardware which is both reprogrammable and high-speed and can be updated remotely without replacing the equipment in which they are operating.

FPGAs allow cryptography to be added to an enterprise network without a noticeable impact on network performance, all while using an open standard—IPsec. Sitehop's technology has the ability to aggregate many IPsec connections and, supporting both Legacy encryption standards and PQC upgrades in the same equipment allow for a phased transition to PQC, resulting in the ability for enterprises to plan this transition without having to replace large numbers of capital equipment in order to add this capability to their networks..

Example

Sitehop's technology can effectively protect distributed energy networks, ensuring security while sending all logging back to a centralized data centre. This practical application demonstrates the real-world benefits of Sitehop's technology in securing critical infrastructure.

For instance, a distributed network working over an untrusted network such as the Internet poses obvious risks for all customers, especially ones dealing with Critical National Infrastructure (CNI). Utilizing both PQC and the hardware-enforced nature of Sitehop's offering to protect against threat actors, CNI can increase their security substantially. Sitehop's technology will also increase the network's speed compared to other encryption mechanisms.

The transition can occur in phases using existing equipment to create a transitional secure network. In time, outdated boxes can be swapped out with Sitehop equipment to increase security network performance and reduce ownership costs due to the centralized management interface and ease of setup and maintenance.

In conclusion, the introduction of the Post Quantum Cryptography (PQC) standard by the NIST marks a significant milestone in the evolution of cryptographic algorithms. Sitehop's innovative use of reprogrammable hardware devices such as Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) presents a promising solution for achieving cryptographic agility, the lowest encryption latency, and high throughput without compromising network performance. The practical application of Sitehop's technology in securing critical infrastructure, particularly in distributed energy networks, demonstrates its real-world benefits and potential to substantially enhance security for organizations dealing with Critical National Infrastructure (CNI). As the transition to PQC continues, Sitehop's phased approach and hardware-enforced security measures offer a compelling pathway for organizations to improve network performance, increase security, and reduce ownership costs.

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Authors

Ben Harper

CTO and Co-Founder, Sitehop

Ben Harper is the Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer at Sitehop Ltd, specializing in FPGA technology and cybersecurity. A graduate of the University of Southampton, he started his career at Detica before moving into technical management. At Sitehop, Ben drives the technological strategy and innovation behind products like the SAFEcore1000, the world's lowest latency IPsec VPN.

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