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The Protocol: It’s Crypto Spring, as Smart Contract Platform Index Jumps Most in 10 Months – CoinDesk

November 30, 2023 | Author: admin

Digital-asset markets are heating up, especially for blockchain tokens. In this week's issue, we highlight November's 19% jump in the CoinDesk Smart Contract Platforms Index (SMT), the biggest gain in 10 months.

Hype is creeping back in too. Our Sam Kessler takes a look at the drama surrounding Blast, the latest entry to the growing competition among Ethereum layer-2 blockchain networks.

We're also covering BanklessDAO's "education" proposal, Vitalik Buterin's verbosity, Wormhole's $225 million raise and Bitcoin "mempool sniping."

This article is featured in the latest issue of The Protocol, our weekly newsletter exploring the tech behind crypto, one block at a time. Sign up here to get it in your inbox every Wednesday.

BANKLESS BRAND-LASH: In crypto it's never too early to call a trend. And lately, based on a grand total of two data points, various research and educational outlets are trying to get millions of dollars from the layer-2 blockchain project Arbitrum's treasury. So far, they're face-planting. The latest effort came courtesy of BanklessDAO, which submitted a proposal to Arbitrum's affiliated DAO for about $1.8 million in ARB tokens to fund a year-long education initiative, according to a CoinDesk report this week. The cost of the proposal sparked criticism on social media, but also led to aspersions against Bankless HQ, a crypto media outlet whose co-founders started the DAO though now claim to be "hands off." Damage control ensued. The episode bears an uncanny resemblance to The Protocol's account just a couple weeks ago of a separate attempt led by the research arm of crypto media firm Blockworks to get more than $2 million in ARB. That proposed expense was compared with the fees that might be paid to "Harvard lawyers." It was later shot down by Arbitrum community voters. As to the BanklessDAO fracas, Bankless HQ's leaders are now seeking to "clarify branding separation."

The prolific Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin penned a dissertation about his "warm but nuanced" feelings about "techno-optimism." The Defiant's Cami Russo summarized Buterin's philosophy as advocating for a "deliberate and balanced path in technological development." CoinDesk's Daniel Kuhn noted that the essay was "extremely aphoristic, and only slightly repetitive." Here's a sample of the 10,000-plus-word piece: "There are certain types of technology that much more reliably make the world better than other types of technology. The world over-indexes on some directions of tech development, and under-indexes on others."

Avalanche's Emin Gn Sirer teases "sneak peak" of AvalancheGo performance optimizations, including "optimistic probabilistic sampling" and "Warp Messaging."

Highlighting blockchain tech upgrades and developments.

1. BNB Chain developers are looking to more than double the transaction speed and slash network fees by 90% as part of a new technical roadmap for layer-2 network opBNB, a representative shared with CoinDesk over email.

2. ARPA Network's random number generator (RNG), Randcast, has launched on Base, the layer-2 chain created by Coinbase, according to the team: "Following a recent integration with Optimism, Randcast is expanding its reach by adding new blockchains to reach a wider number of users and developers in an effort to create immersive online experiences."

3. Chainlink, the biggest blockchain oracle project, announced that the "v0.2" upgrade of its native staking mechanism is now live. According to a press release: "V0.2 features an expanded pool size of 45 million LINK in total, representing 8% of the current circulating supply, increasing the accessibility of Chainlink Staking to a more diverse audience of LINK token holders."

4. Pimlico, a ERC-4337 infrastructure provider, which recently closed a $4.2 million seed funding round led by a16z crypto, is integrating Safe accounts via the newly launched ERC-4337 module from Safe, the smart account infrastructure provider.

5. Movement Labs announced the launch of M2, "the first Move Virtual Machine L2 for Ethereum, scaled with Celestia as modular DA," according to the team.

Regulatory, Policy, and Legal

(Tracy Stephens/CoinDesk Indices)

At least in the eyes of digital-asset traders, crypto winter appears to be over, and crypto spring in full bloom. Bitcoin (BTC) has climbed 11% in November, its third straight monthly gain, and native tokens from major blockchain projects are now pumping as well. The CoinDesk Smart Contract Platform Index (SMT) is up 19% on the month, the biggest jump since January. The leaders were Sei's SEI and Axelar's AXL, each doubling in price. Ethereum's ether (ETH) rose 13%, the most in seven months. All but one of the SMT's 47 members were in the green for the month; Qtum's QTUM was the laggard, losing 2.7%.

Attackers could abuse Google’s SSO integration with Windows for lateral movement – CSO Online

November 30, 2023 | Author: admin

Attackers are always looking for new ways to expand their access inside corporate networks once they hack into a machine or a user account. Recent research by security firm Bitdefender shows how attackers can gain access to Google Workspace and Google Cloud services by stealing access tokens and even plaintext passwords from compromised Windows systems that have the Google Credential Provider for Windows (GCPW) tool deployed. These credentials can be used in different attack scenarios to steal cloud-hosted data or to move laterally to other accounts and systems inside a network.

While organizations might monitor their Active Directory (AD) environments for known lateral movement techniques that have become a staple of attacks by both state-sponsored cyberespionage groups and ransomware gangs, they can have a blind spot when it comes to cloud-based services that are increasingly integrated with local networks as part of hybrid environments.

Organizations that use Google Workspace (formerly G Suite) for enterprise productivity can deploy GCPW on their Windows 10 and Windows 11 computers in order to sync Google accounts with their local Active Directory and enable a single sign-on (SSO) experience for their users. When deployed, the tool registers itself as a Credential Provider in the Windows Local Security Authority Subsystem Service (lsass) which handles authentication on Windows systems, allowing users to use their Google account credentials for local authentication instead of having separate accounts for the AD environment and Google Workspace.

Companies with certain Google Workspace subscriptions can also deploy Googles device management solution for Windows which will use GCPW for authentication and device enrolment. In such a setup, the device management component can be used to push custom Windows configurations and policies, to manage Windows updates, enable BitLocker drive encryption, remotely wipe devices and more.

According to Radu Tudorica, a Bitdefender security researcher who presented the GCPW attack scenarios last week at the DefCamp 2023 security conference in Bucharest, an attacker who obtains admin privileges to an organizations Google Workspace with device management enabled can deploy a download and install policy that pushes a malicious payload to all managed systems. This is similar to how attackers typically push ransomware to an organizations systems after compromising the networks domain controller.

Lateral movement could also potentially extend to the organizations Google Cloud Platform (GCP) account which significantly increases the attack surface by providing access to storage buckets and source code repositories.

Tudoricas scenario begins like most malware attacks, with a spear-phishing email sent to an employee from a targeted organization and impersonating a business associate for added credibility. The email carries a malicious attachment which, if executed, deploys a malware implant that provides the attacker with remote access to the Windows machine with the privileges of the employees local account.

If GCPW is deployed on the system, the attacker can then set out to extract the refresh token associated with the employees Google account. This is a special OAuth token generated by Googles servers following a successful authentication that preserves the users active session for a limited time, preventing the need to re-authenticate when accessing a Google Workspace service.

GCPW stores the refresh token in two locations: Temporarily in the system registry and later in the users profile in the Google Chrome browser. The token is stored in encrypted form in both instances, but its decryption is trivial with a tool like Mimikatz or by calling the Windows CryptUnprotectData API from the same user and machine that was used to encrypt it. In other words, this encryption is only meant to protect the token if its copied and transferred to another machine.

Extracting the token from the system registry is stealthier than from inside the browser profile because security products typically flag attempts by external processes to read browser data as suspicious. The downside is that the token is only temporarily available in the registry before being moved to the browser, but this can be overcome by modifying another value called 'the token handle' thats stored by GCPW inside the registry. If this value is modified, GCPW will think the session is invalid and will force the user to re-authenticate, placing a new refresh token temporarily in the registry.

The refresh token can be used through Googles OAuth API to request access tokens for various Google services in the users name, providing the attacker with access to data stored in those services and their various functionalities. This form of API access does not require multi-factor authentication (MFA) even if the account has it enabled because the refresh token is issued after a successful authentication is already completed, which includes the MFA step.

Depending on the users privileges in the Google Workspace environment the attacker can access their Google Calendar, Google Drive, Google Sheets, Google Tasks, some information about their email address and user profile, their Google Cloud Storage and Google Cloud Search, data stored in Google Classroom and more. If the employee happens to be a Workspace administrator, they can also gain access to user provisioning in the Google Directory and the Vault API, an eDiscovery and data retention tool that allows the exporting of all emails and files for all users within an organization. And if device management is enabled, an admin account can also be used to abuse its features.

Its worth noting that tokens can only be used to access services through APIs, but not all Google services or all their features are available through APIs. Some can only be accessed through web-based interfaces in the browser. In that case, an attacker might need the users actual plaintext password instead of just the GCPW refresh token to abuse those services and features. The plaintext password could also potentially enable access outside of Googles ecosystem if its reused.

Tudorica and his team found that GCPW stores the users password locally in encrypted form to allow for password recovery operations, a feature thats enabled by default. Unlike refresh tokens, locally stored passwords are encrypted with keys that are stored on Googles servers. However, the encryption keys can be retrieved through an undocumented API service if the attacker has the necessary local access (SYSTEM privileges) to extract a unique ID from the Windows Local Security Authority (LSA) store and then uses the GCPW refresh token to generate an access token for that undocumented API.

If the compromised account doesnt have administrator privileges in Google Workspace, the attacker can still use it to extract data such as shared files, identify administrators and then target them by using the compromised account. For example, the attacker could attach malicious macros to a document and then share it with an administrator in the hope they will open it on their computer to install a malware implant.

If an administrator account is compromised, the attacker could use it to create a shadow admin account in the Workspace environment for persistence purposes and then give it access to the organizations resources on Google Cloud Platform as well. If for example the organization develops software and hosts its apps and code on Google Cloud, this level of access could enable backdoors being pushed into production code and software supply chain attacks. At the very least it could lead to a compromise of sensitive business data stored in the organizations cloud-hosted apps or to a ransomware-style attack of GCP data through the customer-supplied encryption keys (CSEK) feature.

Bitdefender reported the refresh token and password decryption issues to Google, but since exploiting them requires a local device to be compromised, they fall outside of the threat model for Chrome data storage and are therefore not considered security vulnerabilities.

Dont treat cloud services as being inherently secure, Tudorica said. "Think of them as Active Directory, and while you dont have something to patch, you still need to set up reasonable access permissions for everyone. Also be very careful with integrations that appear to make your life easier but can also make it harder if they are compromised, and set up monitoring and alerts for absolutely everything," he said.

Additional details are available in a Bitdefender technical write-up published ahead of the conference.

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Attackers could abuse Google's SSO integration with Windows for lateral movement - CSO Online

GNOME’s 1M Funding Is Help Advance Work On systemd-homed … – Phoronix

November 30, 2023 | Author: admin

While the winter holidays are approaching so far it hasn't led to any reduced effort in the GNOME camp. In fact, fresh off the 1M in funding from the Sovereign Tech Fund, there are several new exciting initiatives moving forward along with other ongoing enhancements driven by GNOME developers.

Earlier this month the GNOME Foundation received 1M from the Sovereign Tech Fund to help modernize the GNOME platform and enhance tooling and accessibility. That's already paying off with new work underway around systemd-homed integration for home encryption and other features. Some of this week's highlights for GNOME include:

- Support was added to GNOME's AccountService for systemd-homed as part of the home encryption integration. This is their first step towards a nice user experience around home encryption.

- Drag and drop of folders will now work with sandboxed applications thanks to XDG Desktop Portal work, among other portal work.

- There's new work on enhancing the shell and compositor performance along with adding Tracy profiler integration.

- New improvements on the way around hardware-accelerated screencasting and improving the Linux Bluetooth stack.

- Support for the OpenGL KHR_robustness extension in Mutter is being worked on to help the GNOME session recover from GPU driver crashes.

- The Fractal Matrix messaging app saw the Fractal 5 release as a full rewrite that now makes use of GTK 4, libadwaita, and the Matrix Rust SDK.

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GNOME's 1M Funding Is Help Advance Work On systemd-homed ... - Phoronix

Minimizing Risk Between a Zero-Day Attack and the OS Patch – BlackBerry Blog

November 30, 2023 | Author: admin

When University of Torontos Citizen Lab announced the discovery of a new zero-click, zero-day" cyberattack against Apple devices in September, it unleashed a familiar routine.

First, headlines around the world warned of the exploit, which is being used to install Pegasus spyware onto Apple devices. Next, Apple issued emergency patches for Macs, iPads, iPhones, and Apple Watches to close the vulnerability Citizen Lab discovered as well as a second vulnerability uncovered by Apple. And then a third. Now, organizations around the world are waiting for their executives and employees to update devices to limit the security gaps.

Sound familiar? Even in the best-case scenarios, with rapid and efficient response for internal and external teams, there is a period of time when devices are vulnerable.

This time it was Apple; next time it might be Android. These are widely deployed mobile operating systems, and zero-day vulnerabilities are to be expected, which means depending solely on mobile OS vendors for security can leave significant and highly exploitable gaps. Consider the recent number of common vulnerabilities and exposures (CVEs) for mobile OSes during 2022, according to VulnDB:

How long did each of these vulnerabilities remain unpatched on mobile devices connected to your network?

Despite these numbers and the uncertainty they create within your environment, the mobile security picture is far from hopeless if you know how to fill the gaps. For example, BlackBerry UEMcustomers know that their corporate data is secured with patented elliptic curve cryptography, even in BYOD (bring your own device) environments. Using BlackBerry Dynamics, provisioned by BlackBerry UEM (unified endpoint management), lets them remain secure even in the face of zero-day attacks while minimizing exposure from dependence on OS vendor patches.

We think thats one reason BlackBerry was designated as the Gartner Peer Insights 2023 Customers' Choice for unified endpoint management tools.

Over the course of BlackBerrys almost 40-year history, we wrote the book on mobile security. We're still innovating in that space, and today we offer the most highly certified mobile security platform in the world: BlackBerry UEM. Its used by the worlds most security-conscious organizations governments, banks, law firms, and more. These organizations realize that mobile security threats are significant and so is the ability to defend against them.

Mobile malware is on the rise according to recent BlackBerry research. The Quarterly Threat Reporthighlighted that financial services, for example, are facing persistent threats through smartphone-centric commodity malware, ransomware attacks, and the rise of mobile banking malware. And giventhe latest widespread threats targeting popular mobile OS products, it seems like a good time to revisit exactly how BlackBerry protects mobile apps and data.

Lets say an employee uses their mobile device to conduct business in your IT environment. If you depend on your mobile OS security alone, and their mobile device becomes compromised, so does your corporate data, as well as your clients sensitive data.

We've also seen plenty of cases where 2FA (two-factor authentication) on a device is treated as a security plan; there are known vulnerabilities with that strategy as well. For these reasons and more, BlackBerry approaches things differently. We view everything except the BlackBerry UEM secure enclave that protects corporate applications as insecure and potentially a threat.

For example, even if an employee accidentally installs malware on their phone, corporate data housed on that compromised device is still protected because BlackBerry Dynamics containerizes approved apps and their associated data, segmenting them away from other hostile actions that may be taken against the device. In addition, BlackBerry actively defends against common tactics used to exfiltrate data, and MTD (mobile threat defense) is included, backed by BlackBerrys patented AI cybersecurity.

Another stark difference between BlackBerry and other cybersecurity offerings is in the way mobile platforms handle encryption. BlackBerry delivers encryption within encryption, and heres how it works: Every app in BlackBerry Dynamics has its own unique encryption key, held in memory only when that app is in the foreground. When the employee closes out or even minimizes an app, the key is destroyed not merely deleted minimizing the risk of abuse by bad actors. This level of security is not commonplace, but it can mean a world of difference if and when a compromise occurs.

In addition, we encrypt the encryption key. So even if a threat actor obtains that key and wants to compromise corporate apps on the device, they cant access it unless they also have the second key. This is why your data and apps stay protected, even if there is malware running in the background on the mobile device.

Added to this is the fact that BlackBerry Dynamics encrypts the entire secure enclave, so even if someone has a key needed for a certain database, they wont have the encryption key to decrypt it. This is unique to BlackBerry.

This just gives you a small taste of what makes BlackBerry UEM an incredibly secure mobile device platform, and in fact, the most security-certified UEM in the industry. Customers also have full access to our application marketplace, which contains more than 125 trusted apps from the biggest names in employee productivity. We do in-depth analysis on each app offered in our marketplace, including Veracode verification, penetration testing, API (application programming interface) checking, and more.

All of this reflects our history and track record in the industry: BlackBerry pioneered mobile device security and our innovative approach confirms we still do.

Given the increasing demands for remote and mobile access to sensitive and regulated data, the risk to organizations is growing exponentially. It underscores a critical need for us all to include mobile endpoints in our overall cybersecurity strategies because more and more, thats where the data resides.

Learn more about BlackBerry Dynamics and BlackBerry UEM.

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Minimizing Risk Between a Zero-Day Attack and the OS Patch - BlackBerry Blog

Experts Uncover Passive Method to Extract Private RSA Keys from … – The Hacker News

November 30, 2023 | Author: admin

Nov 27, 2023NewsroomServer Security / Encryption

A new study has demonstrated that it's possible for passive network attackers to obtain private RSA host keys from a vulnerable SSH server by observing when naturally occurring computational faults that occur while the connection is being established.

The Secure Shell (SSH) protocol is a method for securely transmitting commands and logging in to a computer over an unsecured network. Based on a client-server architecture, SSH uses cryptography to authenticate and encrypt connections between devices.

A host key is a cryptographic key used for authenticating computers in the SSH protocol. Host keys are key pairs that are typically generated using public-key cryptosystems like RSA.

"If a signing implementation using CRT-RSA has a fault during signature computation, an attacker who observes this signature may be able to compute the signer's private key," a group of academics from the University of California, San Diego, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology said in a paper this month.

In other words, a passive adversary can quietly keep track of legitimate connections without risking detection until they observe a faulty signature that exposes the private key. The bad actor can then masquerade as the compromised host to intercept sensitive data and stage adversary-in-the-middle (AitM) attacks.

The researchers described the method as a lattice-based key recovery fault attack, which allowed them to retrieve the private keys corresponding to 189 unique RSA public keys that were subsequently traced to devices from four manufacturers: Cisco, Hillstone Networks, Mocana, and Zyxel.

It's worth noting that the release of TLS version 1.3 in 2018 acts as a countermeasure by encrypting the handshake that establishes the connection, thus preventing passive eavesdroppers from accessing the signatures.

"These attacks provide a concrete illustration of the value of several design principles in cryptography: encrypting protocol handshakes as soon as a session key is negotiated to protect metadata, binding authentication to a session, and separating authentication from encryption keys," the researchers said.

The findings come two months after the disclosure of Marvin Attack, a variant of the ROBOT (short for "Return Of Bleichenbacher's Oracle Threat") Attack which allows a threat actor to decrypt RSA ciphertexts and forge signatures by exploiting security weaknesses in PKCS #1 v1.5.

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Experts Uncover Passive Method to Extract Private RSA Keys from ... - The Hacker News

Quantum Computing Is Coming Faster Than You Think – Forbes

November 30, 2023 | Author: admin

The IBM Quantum data center in Poughkeepsie, NY.

IBM

It seems for every proponent for quantum computing there is also a detractor. The detractors often refer to quantum computing as a science project, hype, a hoax, even a failed cause. If you look back through the history of the technology industry, it is littered with technologies that failed for various technical or business reasons. So, there is reason to be skeptical. However, there are just as many technologies that went on to chart the future direction of innovation because of major advancements that enabled the technology. Some have even had a similar level, if not more, of skepticism and of being a science project - technologies like artificial intelligence (AI). AI is a concept that had been theorized about long before the development of the first silicon transistor, but it wasnt until the past decade that it became a reality through advancements in silicon technology, processing architectures, and deep learning techniques. Similarly, quantum computing technology is real now and is on the verge of that breakout over the next decade.

Even describing the concept of quantum computing is not easy. Classical computers use bits to represent a one (on state) or zero (off state), while quantum computers use qubits that can represent multiple states through superposition and links with other qubits through entanglement. The result is a computer that scales exponentially in terms of compute capacity. While this makes quantum computers ideally suited for large mathematical models, they are not suited for handling the simple overhead tasks associated with computing. As a result, quantum computing is better positioned as a new accelerator technology, similar to a Graphics Processing Unit (GPU), Digital Signal Processor (DSP), or Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), but on a much larger scale in terms of computing performance. However, quantum computers require specialized control logic and memory because of the unique compute architecture on which quantum computing is based. Large refrigeration units are also required because they operate at near absolute zero, meaning zero degrees Kelvin or -273.15 degrees Celsius.

Quantum computing also faces two major challenges accuracy and scaling. Errors are introduced through both the stability (or lack thereof) of qubits and potential interference from other qubits. Maintaining stability or lifespan of a qubit in a superposition state is challenging and may be limited to a few milliseconds or microseconds. Additionally, qubits can interfere with neighboring qubits. As a result, error suppression, correction, and mitigation techniques are being developed to work both individually and together to increase computation accuracy. Error suppression does front-end processing based on the knowledge of the system and circuits to offset potential errors, such as making alterations to the pulses that control the qubits. Error mitigation corrects errors in postprocessing based on a noise model. Error correction, on the other hand, requires many additional qubits, to correct errors during execution. While error correction may be the most effective way to eliminate errors, it comes at a significant cost. However, with error suppression and mitigation, quantum computing still allows for processing at a level that cannot be easily accomplished even on the largest classical supercomputers.

Scaling quantum computers is also a significant challenge. While there are several different quantum solutions, many do not use standard CMOS manufacturing processes, which means they do not scale with the advanced semiconductor processes used for other high-end processors or accelerators. Additionally, the entire system needs to scale with the number of qubits, which means more wires connecting each individual qubit to the control logic, plus the associated cooling elements. If you look at current quantum computers when they are not in a refrigerator, they look more like a jumble of tubes and wires than a silicon-based system. Scaling these systems is not an easy task.

If quantum computing is so fraught with challenges, the natural question is why do I think that we are on the cusp of major advances in quantum computing? One of the reasons is the level of investment in quantum computing. The benefits of having a single computer that can outperform many supercomputers is so valuable that the scientific community, technology industry, governments, and enterprises are investing billions into the development and use of quantum computing. This includes industry leaders like Alibaba, Amazon, IBM, Intel, Google, Honeywell, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Toshiba among many other companies. Likewise, the US Government has a National Quantum Initiative to accelerate quantum research and development for the economic and national security of the United States. A key example of this investment is evident walking through the IBM quantum data center in Poughkeepsie, New York, which I had the opportunity to tour earlier this year.

Another reason is the continued advancements being made in quantum computing is improvements in quantum chips, control logic, systems, and software. These advancements are especially true of the development tools for error mitigation, suppression, and correction. As an example, IBM holds the lead in quantum scaling with the 433-qubit Osprey processor introduced in 2022 and is slated to introduce the 1,121-qubit Condor processor later this year. If you consider IBMs quantum processor roadmap, the number of qubits will increase by approximately 2-3x every year. IBM is also networking quantum computers together to further increase the qubit capacity. IBM has stated that it has a goal of 100,000 qubit systems by 2033. Industry and academia are already working on practical applications with current quantum computers. This development will accelerate as qubit capacity increases in the latter half of this decade.

The final reason, and the one I believe will be critical to the next step in quantum computing, is artificial intelligence (AI). Thus far, the focus has been integrating classical computers with quantum computers. However, AI holds the potential to both improve the capabilities and performance of quantum computers and being improved by quantum computers but the work in this area is just beginning.

When and how will quantum computing become available for practical applications? With thousands of universities, research organizations, and enterprises already learning and experimenting with quantum computing, the answer is now, for some limited applications. As published in the scientific journal Nature, IBM partnered with US Berkley to demonstrate the ability of quantum computers with just 127 qubits to outperform classical computers in material modeling. However, IBM believes that the 100k qubit capacity level will drive an inflection point for the industry. With quantum systems networked together, this threshold is rapidly approaching.

How the quantum computing industry will take shape is a little easier to predict. Because of the high investment in the supporting systems and infrastructure to support the systems, quantum computing is likely to be a cloud service provided by the leading hyperscalers and/or technology providers for the vast majority of the market at least in the foreseeable future. There will be some university and enterprise installations, but these are likely to be few and far between.

Given the amount of quantum computing investment, advancements, and activity, the industry is set for a dynamic change, similar to that caused by AI increased performance, functionality, and intelligence. This also comes with the same challenges presented by AI, such as security, as outlined in the recent Quantum Safe Cryptography article. But just like AI, quantum computing is coming. You might say that quantum computing is where AI was in 2015, fascinating but not widely utilized. Fast forward just five years and AI was being integrated into almost every platform and application. In just five years, quantum computing could take computing and humanity to a new level of knowledge and understanding.

The author and members of the Tirias Research staff do not hold equity positions in any of the companies mentioned. Tirias Research tracks and consults for companies throughout the electronics ecosystem from semiconductors to systems and sensors to the cloud. Tirias Research has consulted for IBM, Intel Microsoft, Nvidia, Toshiba, and companies throughout the quantum computing ecosystem.

Jim is a principal analyst and partner at TIRIAS Research, a high-tech research and advisory firm consisting of experienced analysts. Jim has over 30 years of technical and business experience with leading high-tech companies including Intel, Motorola, ON Semiconductor, STMicroelectronics, and General Dynamics Space Systems. Jim focuses on the market inflection points where new technology, usage models and business models collide to drive innovation and growth.

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Quantum Computing Is Coming Faster Than You Think - Forbes

China sells quantum chips to Middle East and West in show of growing influence – South China Morning Post

November 30, 2023 | Author: admin

Chinas quantum computing capabilities have made a leap with the first delivery of a domestically developed superconducting quantum chip to an unnamed scientific research institute in the Middle East, according to a state media report.

The sale by SpinQ, a pioneering company based in Shenzhen, comes soon after Chinese quantum chips were sold to the United States and its allies.

It showcases Chinas growing influence in the quantum computing sector, underscoring its role in fostering global collaboration within the industry.

01:50

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Founded in 2018, SpinQ has independently established a superconducting quantum computer R&D centre and a production line for superconducting quantum chips. The chip that was delivered, named QPU, represents a successful venture into standardised mass production of the technology, a key achievement for the industry.

We are honoured by this collaboration. Delivering the superconducting quantum chip shows our skill and innovation in quantum computing. It also represents our commitment to worldwide collaboration in this field, founder and chief executive Xiang Jingen said in a report by the state-owned Science and Technology Daily on Tuesday.

Chinese scientists claim record smashing quantum computing breakthrough

This list included entities such as the Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at Microscale (HFNL), which developed the worlds first quantum science satellite, Micius, and QuantumCTek Co, Ltd, originating from HFNL and specialising in quantum secure communication products, along with its Shanghai subsidiary.

SpinQ is among the fastest in Chinas quantum computing industry to achieve an international market presence. During this trade, the company also engaged in technical exchanges with the buyer.

This was a mutually beneficial learning process, providing us with invaluable global insights and cutting-edge information, SpinQ vice-president Zou Hongyan said on the companys website.

SpinQ has already extended its quantum computing products to five continents with clients across the US, Canada, Australia, Britain, Germany, Switzerland, Norway, Slovenia, Russia, Brazil, Japan and other countries and regions, according to the Science and Technology Daily report.

From a global perspective, the US leads the quantum information industry, with China ranking high in the second tier. However, the technological development gap is not significantly wide, Xiang told 21st Century Business Herald in September.

Quantum chips, which are akin to the CPU in classical computers, are pivotal to quantum computers. They contain multiple quantum bits (qubits) and use pulse sequences sent by quantum measurement and control systems to perform quantum gate operations between qubits, enabling specific quantum computations.

02:38

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Producing a standard superconducting quantum chip is difficult because of its complex design, the need to ensure the qubits work consistently and remain stable, and challenges in the materials and technologies used for making and controlling them.

Through independent research and development, SpinQ said it had mastered key technologies from chip design to complete machine and algorithm applications. Its proprietary chip production line is capable of producing consistent and stable superconducting quantum chips.

Chinese breakthrough a step towards scalable quantum computation: paper

The company has three major production lines: large superconducting quantum computers for industrial scenarios, small quantum computers for educational purposes and a general-purpose quantum cloud platform.

Looking ahead, SpinQ aims to deepen its internationalisation strategy, driving common prosperity in the global quantum computing industry chain through increased international technical cooperation and exchanges, Xiang said in the report.

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China sells quantum chips to Middle East and West in show of growing influence - South China Morning Post

IBM’s 127-Qubit Quantum Eagle Processor Debuts at University of Tokyo – HPCwire

November 30, 2023 | Author: admin

TOKYO, Nov. 27, 2023 Today, the University of Tokyo (UTokyo) and IBMhave announced the deployment of a 127-qubit IBM Quantum Eagle processor, now operational in Japans first IBMQuantum SystemOne. Scientists at institutions participating in the Quantum Innovation Initiative (QII) Consortium intend to put the systems new processor toward quantum research in bioinformatics, high energy physics, materials science, and finance, among other disciplines.

The 127-qubit IBM Quantum Eagle is the regions first utility-scale processor. IBM defines utility-scale, as the point at which quantum computers could serve as scientific tools to explore a new scale of problems. In June of this year, IBM and UC Berkeley scientistspublished researchin the scientific journalNaturewhich demonstrated for the first time that quantum computers can produce results at a scale of more than 100 qubits reaching beyond leading classical approaches.

For the first time outside North America, a quantum computer with a 127-qubit processor is now available for exclusive use with QII members, said Hiroaki Aihara, Executive Vice President, UTokyo. The limit of what can be simulated by a supercomputer is about 50 qubits, and it is possible to perform large-scale and complex calculations that would be impossible without a quantum computer. By promoting research in a wide range of fields and realizing social implementation of quantum-related technologies, we aim to make a broad contribution to a future society with diversity and hope.

Leading Utility-scale Research in Japan

Since joining the IBM Quantum Network in2019, UTokyo has continued to expand access to quantum computing in Japan. The aim of the Japan-IBM Quantum Partnership initiative, which announced inclusion of the QII Consortium in 2020, is to accelerate the collaboration between industry, academia, and government to advance Japans leadership in quantum science, business, and education.

Now with a utility-scale IBM Quantum System One using more powerful quantum technology, including advanced hardware and tools to explore how error mitigation can enable accuracy, UTokyo also joins other pioneering organizations and universities as part of IBMs recently established working groups to advance the value of quantum computing, including: Healthcare and Life Sciences where UTokyo and QII member scientists will conduct exploratory research in bioinformatics High Energy Physics, Materials, and Optimization.

By equipping UTokyo with a utility-scale IBM Quantum SystemsOne, we are excited to collaborate with QII Consortium organizations on the problems which we anticipate will push the limits of todays quantum systems and begin to extract scientific and business value, said Jay Gambetta, IBM Fellow and Vice President, IBM Quantum.

About the University of Tokyo

The University of Tokyo is Japans leading university and one of the worlds top research universities. The vast research output of some 6,000 researchers is published in the worlds top journals across the arts and sciences. Our vibrant student body of around 15,000 undergraduate and 15,000 graduate students includes over 4,000 international students.

About IBM

IBM is a leading provider of global hybrid cloud and AI, and consulting expertise. We help clients in more than 175 countries capitalize on insights from their data, streamline business processes, reduce costs and gain the competitive edge in their industries. More than 4,000 government and corporate entities in critical infrastructure areas such as financial services, telecommunications and healthcare rely on IBMs hybrid cloud platform and Red Hat OpenShift to affect their digital transformations quickly, efficiently, and securely. IBMs breakthrough innovations in AI, quantum computing, industry-specific cloud solutions and consulting deliver open and flexible options to our clients. All of this is backed by IBMs long-standing commitment to trust, transparency, responsibility, inclusivity, and service.

Source: IBM

Here is the original post:
IBM's 127-Qubit Quantum Eagle Processor Debuts at University of Tokyo - HPCwire

IBM brings ‘utility-scale’ quantum computing to Japan as China and Europe struggle to compete – Cointelegraph

November 30, 2023 | Author: admin

IBM announced the completed installation of a 127-qubit quantum computing system at the University of Tokyo on Nov. 27. According to the company, this marks the arrival of the first utility-scale quantum system in the region.

The system, dubbed a Quantum System One by IBM and featuring the companys Eagle processor, was installed as part of an ongoing research partnership between Japan and IBM. According to a blog post from IBM, it will be used to conduct research in various fields, including bioinformatics, materials science and finance.

Per Hiroaki Aihara, executive vice president of the University of Tokyo:

While Japan and the University of Tokyo reap the benefits of working with a U.S. quantum computing partner, Chinas second-largest technology firm, Alibaba, has decided to shutter its own quantum computing laboratory and will reportedly donate its equipment to Zhejiang University.

Local media reports indicate the Alibaba move is a cost-cutting measure and that dozens of employees associated with the quantum research lab have been laid off. This follows the cancellation of a planned cloud computing spinoff earlier this month, with Alibaba stating that thepartial United States export ban on computer chips to China has contributed to uncertainty.

Related: US official confirms military concerns over Chinas access to cloud technology

The quantum computing sector is expected to grow by more than $5.5 billion between 2023 and 2030, according to estimates from Fortune Business Insights. This has led some experts to worry over the state of quantum computing research in areas outside of the U.S. and China.

Koen Bertels, founder of quantum computing accelerator QBee and a professor at the University of Ghent in Belgium, recently opined that Europe had already lost the artificial intelligence race and couldnt afford to lose at quantum computing.

In addition to being behind in funding, talent, and strategy, wrote Bertels, Europe isnt only competing against the US.

See the article here:
IBM brings 'utility-scale' quantum computing to Japan as China and Europe struggle to compete - Cointelegraph

The University of Tokyo Completes Installation of 127-Qubit IBM … – IBM Newsroom

November 30, 2023 | Author: admin

Quantum Innovation Initiative Consortium members to have access to regions first utility-scale IBM Quantum System One for research interests, including bioinformatics, materials science, and finance

Nov 26, 2023

TOKYO, JAPAN, Nov. 27, 2023 -- Today, the University of Tokyo (UTokyo) and IBM (NYSE: IBM) have announced the deployment of a 127-qubit IBM Quantum Eagle processor, now operational in Japans first IBM Quantum System One. Scientists at institutions participating in the Quantum Innovation Initiative (QII) Consortium intend to put the systems new processor toward quantum research in bioinformatics, high energy physics, materials science, and finance, among other disciplines.

The 127-qubit IBM Quantum Eagle is the regions first utility-scale processor. IBM defines utility-scale, as the point at which quantum computers could serve as scientific tools to explore a new scale of problems. In June of this year, IBM and UC Berkeley scientists published research in the scientific journal Nature which demonstrated for the first time that quantum computers can produce results at a scale of more than 100 qubits reaching beyond leading classical approaches.

Leading utility-scale research in Japan

Since joining the IBM Quantum Network in 2019, UTokyo has continued to expand access to quantum computing in Japan. The aim of the Japan-IBM Quantum Partnership initiative, which announced inclusion of the QII Consortium in 2020, is to accelerate the collaboration between industry, academia, and government to advance Japan's leadership in quantum science, business, and education.

By equipping UTokyo with a utility-scale IBM Quantum Systems One, we are excited to collaborate with QII Consortium organizations on the problems which we anticipate will push the limits of today's quantum systems and begin to extract scientific and business value, said Jay Gambetta, IBM Fellow and Vice President, IBM Quantum.

About the University of Tokyo

The University of Tokyo is Japan's leading university and one of the world's top research universities. The vast research output of some 6,000 researchers is published in the world's top journals across the arts and sciences. Our vibrant student body of around 15,000 undergraduate and 15,000 graduate students includes over 4,000 international students.

Find out more at http://www.u-tokyo.ac.jp/en/

About IBM

IBM is a leading provider of global hybrid cloud and AI, and consulting expertise. We help clients in more than 175 countries capitalize on insights from their data, streamline business processes, reduce costs and gain the competitive edge in their industries. More than 4,000 government and corporate entities in critical infrastructure areas such as financial services, telecommunications and healthcare rely on IBM's hybrid cloud platform and Red Hat OpenShift to affect their digital transformations quickly, efficiently, and securely. IBM's breakthrough innovations in AI, quantum computing, industry-specific cloud solutions and consulting deliver open and flexible options to our clients. All of this is backed by IBM's long-standing commitment to trust, transparency, responsibility, inclusivity, and service.

Visit http://www.ibm.com for more information.

Media contacts:

Chris NayIBM Researchcnay@us.ibm.com

University Corporate Collaboration Department, The University of Tokyo2-11-16 Yayoi, Bunkyo-ku Tokyo, Japan 113-0032e-mail: kyoso-info.adm@gs.mail.u-tokyo.ac.jp

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