The first week of August 2022 saw the world’s cryptographers grapple with the second shocker of the year. Another one of the four post-quantum cryptography (PQC) algorithms selected by the NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) in a rigorous 5-year process was cracked by a team from Belgium. They took just 62 min and a standard laptop to break the PQC algorithm to win a USD 50,000 bounty from Microsoft. The first shocker came 6 months earlier, when another of the NIST finalists (Rainbow) was taken down. Unfortunately, both failed PQC algorithms are commercially available to consumers. With 80 of the 82 PQC candidates failing the NIST standardization process, the future of the remaining two PQC algorithms is, at best, questionable, placing the rigorous 5-year NIST exercise to build a quantum-safe encryption standard in jeopardy. Meanwhile, there is no respite from the quantum threat that looms large. It is time we take a step back and review the etiology of the problem de novo. Although state-of-the-art computer security heavily relies on cryptography, it can indeed transcend beyond encryption. This paper analyzes an encryption-agnostic approach that can potentially render computers quantum-resistant. Zero-vulnerability computing (ZVC) secures computers by banning all third-party permissions, a root cause of most vulnerabilities. ZVC eliminates the complexities of the multi-layered architecture of legacy computers and builds a minimalist, compact solid-state software on a chip (3SoC) that is robust, energy-efficient, and potentially resistant to malware as well as quantum threats.

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When Shakespeare averred, “a rose by any other name would smell as sweet”, we precisely knew the attributes associated with this thing called “ROSE.” But do we really know what Quantum supremacy1 or Quantum advantage2 exactly entails in Quantum Computing (QC) space, except that latter appears more politically correct than the former? How do we achieve the supremacy or advantage unless we precisely know what threshold needs to be reached to qualify? Can that threshold be totally oblivious to ethics and humane interests? What good a nuclear chain reaction is, if it cannot be controlled to serve humanity? In the same breadth definition of quantum advantage cannot be just limited to achieving algorithmic superiority over legacy computing systems, particularly when a section of the experts attribute catastrophic threat3 that unrestrained QC may cause by collapsing the current cryptographic infrastructure4 resulting in amplified existential risk to humanity.5 These predictions are relevant only if QCs become commercially viable and deployable in the service of humanity. No technology can be a one-way ticket to catastrophe, and neither can the definition of superiority of that technology be. If at all there are catastrophic risks, QC can never enter public domain as a minimum viable product (MVP) unless there are safeguards in place. So obviously those safeguards should become an integral part of the definition of its superiority over the conventional computers and a standard to be met to pass the MVP threshold. NIST (National Institute of Standards & Technology) is pursuing the standardization of Post Quantum Cryptography (PQC) as that safeguard,6 but with 80th of the 82 candidate PQCs recently failing7 and companies already offering QC as a service, there is an urgent need for an alternate strategy. Our research proposes a novel encryption agnostic approach8 to safeguard QC,9 and articulates a comprehensive definition of an MVP that can potentially set a gold standard for defining commercially viable quantum advantage over the traditional computing.

Life without computers is unimaginable. However, computers remain vulnerable to cybercrimes, a USD 6 trillion industry that the world has come to accept as a “necessary evil.” Third-party permissions resulting in an attack surface (AS) and in-computer storage that computers mandate are key design elements that hackers exploit, formerly by remote malware installation and later by stealing personal data using authentication faking techniques. In legacy computers, the AS cannot be completely eliminated, nor can a connected device retain data offline, rendering fool-proof cybersecurity impossible. Although the architects of legacy computers made perfectly reasonable engineering trade-offs for their world, our world is very different. Zero vulnerability computing (ZVC) challenges the impossible with in-computer offline storage (ICOS) and Supra OS (SOS), to deliver comprehensive protection against vulnerabilities. The feasibility of ZVC is demonstrated in a tiny permanently computer-mounted hardware wallet, providing the first evidence of the complete obliteration of the AS. Malware cannot infect the ZVC device on account of lacking an AS, nor can personal data be hacked as they mostly remain offline, except for sporadic processing. Further research should explore whether ZVC can fully secure computers in more complex real-world scenarios and open a new epoch in the evolution of computers and the Internet.