Signal announced the introduction of Sparse Post-Quantum Ratchet (SPQR), a new cryptographic component designed to withstand quantum computing threats.
SPQR will serve as an advanced mechanism that continuously updates the encryption keys used in conversations and discarding the old ones.
Signal is a cross-platform, end-to-end encrypted messaging and calling app managed by the non-profit Signal Foundation, with an estimated monthly active user base of up to 100 million.
In the era of instant data exchange and growing risks of cyberattacks, scientists are seeking secure methods of transmitting information. One promising solution is quantum cryptography—a quantum technology that uses single photons to establish encryption keys.
A team from the Faculty of Physics at the University of Warsaw has developed and tested in urban infrastructure a novel system for quantum key distribution (QKD). The system employs so-called high-dimensional encoding. The proposed setup is simpler to build and scale than existing solutions, while being based on a phenomenon known to physicists for nearly two centuries—the Talbot effect. The research results have been published in the journals Optica Quantum, Optica, and Physical Review Applied.
“Our research focuses on quantum key distribution (QKD)—a technology that uses single photons to establish a secure cryptographic key between two parties,” says Dr. Michał Karpiński, head of the Quantum Photonics Laboratory at the Faculty of Physics, University of Warsaw.
A small yet innovative experiment is taking place at CERN. Its goal is to test how the CERN-born optical timing signal—normally used in the Laboratory’s accelerators to synchronize devices with ultra-high precision—can best be sent through an optical fiber alongside a single-photon signal from a source of quantum-entangled photons. The results could pave the way for using this technique in quantum networks and quantum cryptography.
Research in quantum networks is growing rapidly worldwide. Future quantum networks could connect quantum computers and sensors, without losing any quantum information. They could also enable the secure exchange of information, opening up applications across many fields.
Unlike classical networks, where information is encoded in binary bits (0s and 1s), quantum networks rely on the unique properties of quantum bits, or “qubits,” such as superposition (where a qubit can exist in multiple states simultaneously) and entanglement (where the state of one qubit influences the state of another no matter how far apart they are).
The terahertz (THz) band of the electromagnetic spectrum holds immense promise for next-generation technologies, including high-speed wireless communication, advanced encryption, and medical imaging. However, manipulating THz waves has long been a technical challenge, since these frequencies interact weakly with most natural materials.
Over the past two decades, researchers have increasingly turned to metasurfaces to tackle this problem. These are ultrathin materials carefully engineered to exhibit specialized properties, providing unprecedented control over THz waves.
Ideally, metasurfaces for THz applications in encryption and holography should be easily configurable, featuring an adjustable response that can be controlled externally. Despite this, tunable metasurface systems often rely on cumbersome or energy-inefficient methods, such as external thermal control.
Microsoft is investigating a known issue that triggers Outlook errors when opening encrypted emails sent from other organizations.
According to a recently published support document, this issue affects users in all Office channels who are using the classic Outlook email client.
“Currently, when using classic Outlook for Windows, you can’t open an OMEv2 encrypted email if it was sent from a separate organization (what we call another tenant),” Microsoft said.
Integration into a quantum money protocol shows that memories can now handle very demanding applications for quantum networking.
Researchers at the Kastler Brossel Laboratory (Sorbonne Université, CNRS, ENS-Université PSL, Collège de France), together with colleagues from LIP6 (Sorbonne Université, CNRS), have taken a major step forward in quantum technology: for the first time, they have integrated an optical quantum memory into a cryptographic protocol. This achievement, based on Wiesner’s unforgeable quantum money scheme, demonstrates that quantum memories are now mature enough to operate under very demanding conditions for networking.
In a study published on September 19 in Science Advances, the Paris team implemented Wiesner’s quantum money, a foundational idea in quantum cryptography that relies on the no-cloning theorem to prevent counterfeiting. Unlike previous demonstrations that bypassed storage, this experiment incorporated an intermediate memory step—an essential capability for real-world applications where quantum data must be held and released on demand.
Quantum computing promises to solve the seemingly unsolvable in fields such as physics, medicine, cryptography and more.
But as the race to develop the first large-scale, error-free commercial device heats up, it begs the question: how can we check that these ‘impossible’ solutions are correct?
A new Swinburne study is tackling this paradox. The paper is published in the journal Quantum Science and Technology.
A recently discovered ransomware strain called HybridPetya can bypass the UEFI Secure Boot feature to install a malicious application on the EFI System Partition.
HybridPetya appears inspired by the destructive Petya/NotPetya malware that encrypted computers and prevented Windows from booting in attacks in 2016 and 2017 but did not provide a recovery option.
Researchers at cybersecurity company ESET found a sample of HybridPetya on VirusTotal. They note that this may be a research project, a proof-of-concept, or an early version of a cybercrime tool still under limited testing.
