This techie aims to put India at the forefront of hack-proof communication

Quantum Cryptography, the technology he is using, comes at a time when enterprises in the country are witnessing increasing cases of sensitive data exposure risks and breaches

Sunil Gupta is obsessed with data security and privacy. He doesn’t use Facebook or Instagram and changes his passwords frequently on various online platforms. He has put a tape on the camera of his laptop and never uses free Wi-Fi at airports and hotels. It is this kind of obsession that has made the 54-year-old engineer's company, QNu Labs, the only firm in the country to successfully develop Quantum cyber-security products.

After having worked at organisations such as Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DOT), tech giant Infosys and cybersecurity firm Paladion Networks, Gupta decided to run the business of future-proofing encryption through quantum technologies at QNu. QNu’s solutions solve the problem of secure key distribution by allowing the exchange of a cryptographic key between two remote parties over a quantum channel, even in the presence of an eavesdropper. The technology could propel India to the forefront of hack-proof communication in sectors such as banking, defence and national and homeland security. 

“The digital economy will not prosper until there is digital trust. Unfortunately, enterprises are looking at digital trust as an afterthought,” says Gupta. 

An alumnus of National Institute of Technology, Trichy, Gupta co-founded QNu Labs along with Mark Mathias and Anil Prabhakar, who have deep expertise in areas such hardware product development, quantum optic research, and mobile and satellite communications. The 'Quantum cryptography' created by QNu relies more on physics than mathematics. It is based on the use of individual particles or waves of light (photons) and their intrinsic quantum properties to create an unbreakable cryptosystem. This is viable as it is impossible to assess the quantum state of any system without disturbing it. 

“Hackers get new technologies two years ahead of enterprises. What we are trying to do is to make quantum cryptography a part of the organisation’s cybersecurity strategy,” says Gupta. 

Traditional encryption relies on relaying a decryption key along with the secret data. The recipient then uses that key for deciphering that secret information. But hackers can copy this key and steal the data. To address this problem, the most promising application of quantum cryptography that QNu Labs offers is Quantum key distribution (QKD). Using the company’s technology, two users can set up a QKD session that enables them to get a random private key. QKD is different, as it encrypts this key on light particles called photons. A hacker trying to copy or read such a key would automatically change its state, due to the fundamental principle of quantum mechanics. This would also leave a hacker fingerprint. This means the recipient and the transmitter can easily spot attempts to read or intercept the information. QNu Labs has another product called Quantum Random Number Generator, which produces these private keys.

One of the biggest validations that QNu Labs obtained was when Cisco, the biggest maker of computer networking equipment, selected the firm to be part of its start-up accelerator programme, Cisco LaunchPad, last October. “Disruptive technologies take a little more time to get (adopted). If you look at QNu Labs, they are futuristic and it would take a little bit of time for them to see traction,” Krishna Sundaresan, vice-president of engineering at Cisco Systems, had told Business Standard in an interview. He said Cisco is providing support to start-ups like QNu in terms of technology validation and working along with the company’s set of products.

Gupta of QNu is now in discussions with defence and government organisations to use its Quantum Cryptography technology. QNu’s products consist of a pair of hardware devices as big as pizza boxes, which are integrated with the network equipment like routers and switches and central key management systems. “We are also working with the telecom department as well as ATM manufacturers to make them safe using quantum technology,” says Gupta.

QNu’s technology comes at a time when services are rapidly digitising in India and enterprises in the country are witnessing increasing cases of sensitive data exposure risks and breaches. However cyber attacks cannot only be conducted using normal computers. Gupta cautioned that as 'quantum computers' get adequately powerful they would be able to easily decrypt today's internet communication. Quantum computers exist today but are experimental, small and include only a few quantum bits. Tech giants such as Google, IBM, Intel and Microsoft are already working on it. Google had announced that it is working on protecting Chrome against possible attacks of quantum computers. It was doing this by deploying post-quantum cryptography in an experimental version of the browser. In August 2016, China also launched the world's first quantum satellite. Named after the ancient Chinese scientist and philosopher Micius, the satellite will help the country to establish ‘hack-proof’ communications. To get ahead of quantum computing powered encryption breakers, large US banks are also investing in quantum key distribution (QKD) systems.