IBM Patent Highlights Security Risks of Quantum Development
“If quantum computers can break encryption, they can also encrypt in a way that other quantum computers can’t break.”

IBM wants verbal offers to hold more weight.
The company filed a patent for “digitally signed vocal contracts” with “quantum-safe cryptography.” It describes a system for automatically creating contracts from verbal agreements, and using advanced security approaches to make them tamper-resistant.
IBM’s tech addresses the threat that quantum computing poses to traditional cryptography. These devices can potentially perform incredibly complex calculations at a rapid pace, allowing them to easily crack private keys, or long, intricate passwords used in cryptographic schemes.
When two parties come to a verbal agreement, this system will record that conversation and generate a transcript of it, then all parties involved will verify it. The audio file will then be digitally signed by the participants to ensure its authenticity.
To make sure the files can’t be manipulated, IBM’s tech utilizes quantum-safe cryptography in its digital signature process, which is supposedly secure against “cryptanalytic attacks” by both quantum and classical computers. (A cryptanalytic attack specifically targets cryptographic systems.)
The goal of this system is to “generate a cryptographically validated immutable vocal contract from a verbal communication containing terms of agreement between the parties,” IBM noted in the filing.
Quantum computing is still in its early days. Many of these devices haven’t reached beyond a few thousand qubits, and face issues with stability. But the promises of quantum computing also present massive cybersecurity risks, especially as the tech continues to evolve, said Eric O’Neill, founder of NexaSure AI and The Georgetown Group.
When researchers eventually crack “quantum supremacy,” or are able to solve problems at rapid speeds that classical computers can’t, it threatens to “essentially break all current encryption,” said O’Neill.
And given the sheer amount of critical systems that rely on cryptography as a means of protection, quantum development stands to put a lot at risk, said Ashley Manraj, chief technology officer at Pvotal Technologies.
For example, he said, the tech theoretically has the potential to break the foundations of blockchain and crack into banking systems. Something that would take a classical computer billions of years “would instead be found in weeks if you have access to a powerful enough quantum computer,” said Manraj.
However, it may be possible to fight fire with fire, said O’Neill. Using the tech to create safeguards against itself could offer completely impenetrable and tamper-proof cybersecurity. “If quantum computers can break encryption, they can also encrypt in a way that other quantum computers can’t break,” he said.
IBM’s interest in setting up these guardrails makes sense: It’s one of the few organizations with a working quantum computer, and has made quantum safe security one of its selling points. “[IBM] is already developing quantum encryption and selling it so that companies get ahead of this,” said O’Neill. “The really smart ones are — or, the ones that can afford it.”