IBM released first World's First Quantum Computing Safe Tape Drive

Quantum Computing has been gaining a lot of media attention and investor speculation into this newer technology.  As more and more enterprises worry about how quantum computers will break all things crypto and thus exposing their precious data... IBM brought forth the World's First Quantum Computing Safe Tape Drive.  Bold statement however, IBM is willing to back up (no pun intended) by revealing how they secure the TS1160 tape drive.

How is TS1160 safe from Quantum Computing? It leverages Kyber & Dilithium in combo w/ AES-256 Symmetric encryption to make it safe from quantum computers. A new set of encapsulation and digital signatures along with traditional encryption keep it safe from quantum computers. 

Wait isn't Dilithium something they used to power Star Trek Enterprise spaceship?  Well technically no that would be Dilithium Crystals. Check me here - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dilithium_(Star_Trek)#:~:text=In%20the%20Star%20Trek%20fictional,them%20a%20recurring%20plot%20element.

IBM Researchers have been developing cryptographic algorithms that are designed to be resistant to the potential security concerns posed by quantum computers. Two such cryptographic approaches are Kyber & Dilithium:

• Kyber is an encapsulation technique - https://pq-crystals.org/kyber/index.shtml
• while Dilitihium is a secure digital signature technique - https://pq-crystals.org/dilithium/index.shtml
• Are only two of many components IBM has released under CRYSTALS (Cryptographic Suite for Algebraic Lattices) - IBM Open Sourced these constructs to enable everyone to benefit from the technological advancements. 
• Additionally, IBM submitted CRYSTALS to NIST for standards review

Why is this Tape drive important?  The ability to keep enterprise data safe from competition and attackers has been paramount since computers were invented in the '50's (Traditional Computers) Now with quantum computers advancing by leaps and bounds annually its important to anticipate the new attack vectors now.

Recall Tape Drives have been utilized as Air-Gaps since 1954 when IBM developed the tape technology and a few advancements over the years keep this STILL the most affordable archive mechanism available. Albeit not the fastest, the speeds have improved dramatically for certain.

TS1160 Capacity info - it will be known as an EH9 drive and support 20TB capacity when written to as a JE media types.

What else do we know about the TS1160? It will be a Mainframe tape drive, I could not find anything stating it would be made available for Open Systems. 

Summary

I look for MIT & IBM to work together (both being leaders in their respective areas to bring not just quantum computers but protection for traditional computers from quantum computers.  Better to be 1-day early than 3-days late!

https://www.ibm.com/blogs/research/2019/08/crystals/