Accenture has made a strategic investment, through Accenture Ventures, in QuSecure
a leader in post-quantum cybersecurity. Together, Accenture and
QuSecure offer comprehensive post-quantum crypto agility solutions to
help government agencies and private sector businesses mitigate emerging
quantum risks.
Headquartered in San Mateo, Calif., QuSecure is a privately held company founded in 2019. QuSecure’s QuProtect
software offers an end-to-end quantum security-as-a-service
architecture that combines zero-trust, next-generation quantum-resilient
technology and crypto agility to protect networks, cloud systems, edge
devices and satellite communications against today’s cyberattacks and
future quantum threats, all with minimal disruption to existing systems.
“Organizations need a reliable, quantum-resilient cybersecurity solution
that not only adheres to the National Institute of Standards and
Technology’s (NIST) post-quantum encryption standards
but that can be easily integrated across all parts of a communications
network,” said Tom Patterson, emerging technology security lead at
Accenture. “We’re investing in trusted providers like QuSecure to help
our clients future-proof their global networks today to protect
high-risk data faster.”
Post-quantum encryption standards protect a variety of electronic
information, such as private email messages and e-commerce transactions.
NIST
is advising computer system administrators to start transitioning to
NIST’s newly released standards as quickly as possible. According to the Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center (FS-ISAC), the shift to crypto agility must start immediately and is a long-term strategy rather than a one-time implementation.
“In a progressively digital world, as AI and quantum threats to
encryption evolve at an ever-faster pace, it is critical that we evolve
from encryption management that requires several years to upgrade
algorithms to orchestrated crypto agility-the ability to push a button
and upgrade your entire system at once,” said Rebecca Krauthamer,
co-founder and CEO of QuSecure. “The ability to orchestrate cryptography
at the enterprise scale-swapping out cryptographic algorithms at any
endpoint, anywhere-is critical to a robust cybersecurity strategy.
QuSecure and Accenture have a shared vision to provide organizations
with a long-term solution to upgrade and manage their encryption
standards.”
In 2023, Accenture and QuSecure collaborated
to establish the first successful multi-orbit data communications test
secured with post-quantum cryptography (PQC), which refers to
cryptographic methods that are secure against an attack by a quantum
computer. This demonstrates that crypto agility, successfully rotating
to a less vulnerable algorithm, is real and possible.
Recently, Banco Sabadell successfully completed a joint project with Accenture and QuSecure
to explore the adoption of PQC technologies in the bank’s
infrastructure. This project represents a significant step toward
strengthening defenses against quantum attacks with Banco Sabadell
employing QuSecure’s software for crypto agility to update encryption.
“Crypto agility is critical for the banking industry, allowing for the
seamless integration of new cryptographic standards without the need to
rebuild entire systems,” said Joan Puig, Group CISO of Banco Sabadell.
“Our project, in collaboration with Accenture and QuSecure, enabled us
to explore the impact of adopting post-quantum cryptography technologies
on the bank’s infrastructure. By embracing crypto agility and testing
quantum technologies we’re ensuring our preparedness for the quantum
future.”
To help maintain security in a post-quantum world, Accenture developed
an eight-step roadmap to help clients secure their data and
communications and is collaborating with companies like QuSecure.
Working with other industry leaders, Accenture has designed a Quantum
Security Maturity Index to give corporate boards and executives a way to
measure their quantum security infrastructure against their peers and
identify areas for improvement.
QuSecure will also join Accenture Ventures’ Project Spotlight,
an engagement and investment program focused on working with companies
that create or apply disruptive enterprise technologies. Project
Spotlight offers extensive access to Accenture’s domain expertise and
its enterprise clients, helping startups harness creativity and deliver
on the promise of their technology. Additional cybersecurity, quantum
security and space companies that have joined Project Spotlight include Reality Defender, Aliro Quantum and Tenchi Security.
