CS grad student helps develop quantum-resistant security measures

Benjamin Franklin once compared the value of an ounce of prevention to that of a pound of cure. As quantum computing technology advances rapidly, researchers are investigating security issues that could emerge. One concern is the vulnerability of encryption methods used in current computer systems. NCSA Research Scientist Phuong Cao told HPCwire, “The problem is urgent because practical quantum computers will break classical encryption in the next decade.”  Studying the post quantum cryptography adoption rate is critically important to the nation’s security. It is best showcased through collaboration between NCSA's REU, Illinois’ ICSSP program, and NCSA's security research team.

One Illinois graduate student, Jakub Sowa, is playing a role in developing quantum-resistant security measures for supercomputing applications. How he got to do so epitomizes another saying from Franklin: “Energy and persistence conquer all things.”

NCSA Research Scientist Phuong Cao and Jakub Sowa, while he was an undergraduate at the Grainger College of Engineering Siebel School of Computing and Data Science at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, presented a paper at September’s IEEE International Conference on Quantum Computing and Engineering in Montreal. Their findings proposed the design of a novel Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) network instrument housed at NCSA and the U. of I. and integrated as a part of the international FABRIC testbed; showcased the latest results on PQC adoption rate across a wide spectrum of network protocols; described the current state of PQC implementation in key scientific applications like OpenSSH and SciTokens; highlighted the challenges of being quantum-resistant; and emphasized discussion of potential novel attacks.

Sowa is now a first-year graduate student at Illinois. Born in Poland, he grew up in the southwestern suburbs of Chicago and says, “I got into computing in high school, where I had the great privilege of taking my first computer science classes and was introduced to quantum computers. I really liked how many problems could be solved computationally, and it was a great joy to craft those solutions myself. I had somewhat of a dream from childhood to be a great scientist, bringing about huge discoveries after watching a documentary on Einstein. At the time, and even now, quantum computers were at the forefront of computing, and I got excited about the prospect of working on something so revolutionary.”

Sowa’s initial ambition to attend the University of Chicago was sidelined by the COVID-19 pandemic, his status as an international student, and the financial challenges faced by his parents. “I knew it was on me to figure out a way to fund my education,” Sowa says. He spent a year at Moraine Valley Community College in Palos Hills, Illinois, where he “realized that Illinois offered bigger opportunities in computer science. I knew it was highly competitive, and that was reinforced at one point by my community college professor when, in response to my question about my chances of being accepted as a transfer, they said they were really low, and it was unlikely. I always wanted to accomplish great things, and I knew that was only possible if I was surrounded by the best who could inspire and teach me to learn more. I knew I had to go here then, especially with how close it was to my friends at home in Chicago. Luckily, I was able to prove that professor wrong and get accepted.”

Sowa seized the opportunities available to him. He says “I got interested in security issues primarily through the  Illinois Cyber Security Scholars Program scholarship program here on campus. We are a group of students who receive possibly the most generous scholarship on campus (which helped me with financial struggles), who essentially pledge to focus on cybersecurity here and work in the government after graduation in the interest of protecting people in the country. This gave me an additional motivation for all my efforts, to ensure people have reliable and safe access to critical services (which relies on a secure internet) like electricity.”

Sowa joined the Students Pushing INnovation (SPIN) Internship Program (SPIN) program at NCSA in the summer of 2023. He participates in the CyberCorps: Scholarship for Service program, which is NSF-funded, and will work after graduation for the U.S. government in a position related to cybersecurity.

“I found myself back in the realm of quantum computing somehow when Phuong Cao introduced post-quantum cryptography to me, almost entirely by chance. I had taken a class on cryptography here the year before, which is why I felt up to learning about the quantum version, but there weren't any quantum computing classes here then, so I went in totally blind but very eager to learn.”

Cao, as a TrustedCI Fellow, has been working with the  NSF Cybersecurity Center of Excellence, to bring cutting edge techniques such as formal verification, securing Jupyter Notebooks, high-fidelity cyber attacks analyses and visualization, security testbed for preempting ransomware, and quantum computing to the field of secure high performance computing. Most recently, he is the principal investigator in a $200,000 award from the Office of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure, NSF, for a plan on “Quantum-Resistant Cryptography in Supercomputing Scientific Applications.” The Co-Principal Investigators are  Anita Nikolich, Director of Research and Technology Innovation and Research Scientist, School of Information Sciences, and NCSA research scientist; Ravishankar Iyer  ECE George and Ann Fisher Distinguished Professor of Engineering and NCSA researcher, and Santiago Nunez-Corrales NCSA researcher and faculty affiliate at the Informatics Department of the School of Information Sciences and The Illinois Grainger Engineering IQUIST center.

Through NCSA’s SPIN program, Jakub has learned to deliver well-received public talks through NCSA SPIN program at the Illinois Undergraduate Research Symposium, using it as practice opportunities for the IEEE QCE conference. Cao says of Sowa, “Jakub is a quick learner and a talented student in applied cryptography, security data curation, and analyses. Jakub’s talent is evidenced by his quick grasp of complex cryptography concepts such as asymmetric encryptions, Diffie-Hellman Key Exchange, and lattice-based cryptography, which is very challenging even for senior graduate students to understand. Jakub, with his training at the U. of I. security lab, comfortably illustrated such concepts and their relations to Post Quantum Cryptography in the first two weeks of his SPIN internship. In addition, Jakub was able to apply those concepts to real-world security data curated at NCSA across a wide spectrum of applications across all seven layers of the OSI Network stack to analyze the adoption rate of such protocols. Jakub also worked diligently to document his efforts, with a high level of clarity in a shared LaTeX document from day one, so the materials for the manuscript are readily available for edits and reviews.”

Cao, named an outstanding 2023-24 NCSA mentor, continues to mentor Sowa, who says  “I did the initial research work in the summer of 2023, before my senior year as an undergrad. The rest of the paper we completed in the last month of my senior year, earlier this year in the spring. Between those two timeframes, we had a lot of people helping with various parts of the research.” Following this success, Jakub continues at Illinois as a Master’s student and will continue to kickstart the research in Post Quantum Cryptography for interested students in the Undergraduate Research in Scientific Advancement program with Phuong Cao.

Grainger Engineering Affiliations

Ravishankar Iyer is an Illinois Grainger Engineering professor of electrical and computer engineering and is affiliated with department of electrical and computer engineering, NCSA, Coordinated Science Laboratory, Carle Illinois College of Medicine, and the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology. Ravishankar Iyer is the George and Ann Fisher Distinguished Professor of Engineering.