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Researchers at Monash University have launched a new project which seeks to teach Indo-Pacific-based organisations the best ways in which they can prevent being targeted and damaged by the growing wave of cyber dangers.
Teaming up with the Oceania Cyber Security Centre (OCSC), Monash University researchers are looking for organisations from 11 nations across the Indo-Pacific to participate in the Post-Quantum Cryptography in the Indo-Pacific Program (PQCIP).
While data encoding is considered a key way to prevent cyber criminals from accessing sensitive data, quantum computing generates a new risk for businesses, due to the way it is able to rapidly decrypt encrypted data.
“Most currently deployed cryptography is not strong enough against attacks from large-scale quantum computers, which can rapidly decrypt most of today’s encrypted data, and we expect such computers to become a reality over the coming years,” said the project’s director, associate professor at Monash University’s faculty of IT, Ron Steinfeld.
The PQCIP will teach participating businesses and local governments how to defend against the risk of decryption generated by quantum computing, assessing their current defensive capabilities and developing tailored plans and practices that will see businesses better evaluate and defend against cyber threats.
“The training will be adapted to fit the local needs, be available online for reference after the course and free for anyone managing or working in IT or cyber security within most government entities (excluding military, intelligence, or law enforcement) or organisations in any of the 11 countries,” said OCSC head of research and capacity building Dr James Boorman.
“We are keen to hear from anyone interested in building these capabilities. Collaboratively standardising and enhancing cyber security within these countries will result in stronger relationships and data protection across the entire region.”
The program will be available to these organisations for free, thanks to funding by the US Department of State.