Top cyber scientist warns of quantum computing security threats

The 2025 winner of the Prime Minister’s Prize for Innovation, cyber security pioneer Vikram Sharma, said Australia must prepare for an onslaught of technological trickery as quantum computers quickly crack encryption that would take today’s super­computers thousands of years to break.

“For all the amazing benefits a quantum computer will bring, one thing it’ll also do is have the ability to potentially break one of the very important mechanisms we use for cyber security today,’’ he told The Australian. “We need to protect against those that will choose to use this tremendous computing power for impacting those critical infrastructure platforms that we rely on for everyday life … whether it’s the operation of power grids, or hospitals or financial infrastructure.

“All of these need to be secured once we have an adversary that has such capability.’’

Dr Sharma is the founder and chief executive of QuintessenceLabs, used by global companies, defence contractors, critical infrastructure providers and government agencies – including Australia’s Defence Department, US Homeland Secur­ity, NASA and JPMorgan Chase.

He said a quantum computer – which is due to be built in Brisbane by 2029 through a $1bn investment from the federal and Queensland governments – will accelerate discovery of new drugs and materials, and help doctors create patient-specific medicines.

“The technological benefits that will come from harnessing this technology are going to be tremendous,’’ Dr Sharma said. But he warned that cyber criminals were gaining access to cloud-based quantum computing.

“It’s very important we build technology which will allow our digital infrastructure to continue to stay secure once we have an adversary that has a quantum computer at the right scale to be able to impact some of our security measures we’re using today,’’ he said. “There certainly are many state-sponsored, large-scale projects in progress around the world – that is one avenue of threat.

“Equally, as quantum computers become democratised, you are also seeing the ability to access advanced quantum computing capability as a (cloud) service.

“It may mean that some of the criminal groups … could access it via cloud based services.’’

Anthony Albanese celebrated the achievements of six scientists and two science teachers on Monday night, in fields ranging from air quality to ultrasound technology and mpox vaccines.

The Scientist of the Year is distinguished professor Lidia Morawska, who convinced the World Health Organisation that the Covid-19 virus was airborne during the pandemic, leading to mask mandates.

Professor Morawska, a world-renowned expert in the study of air quality and its impact on human health and the environment who now works at the Queensland University of Technology, aired her concerns about the “age of anti-science’’.

“The problem is now all over the world that science is not respected,’’ she told The Australian.

“This is a big problem which is not helping society worldwide.

“If we reject science and build a society based on beliefs, ideas and fake news, that’s not going to help anyone.’’

 

The Polish-born Professor Morawska, who is working on ways to improve building airconditioning and circulation to minimise the wearing of masks, said she had yearned to be a scientist since she started school.

She urged Australian students contemplating their careers to “follow what interests you – then you will be good at it’’.

“The most important thing is to do what you like to do, and not what everybody else thinks you should be doing,’’ she said.

For the first time, the Prime Minister’s Science Prizes include an award for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Knowledge Systems.

The inaugural winner is Murdoch University professor Michael Wear, a Malgana traditional custodian of Shark Bay in Western Australia who founded Tidal Moon, Australia’s first Indigenous-owned and led sea cucumber fishery and marine restoration enterprise.

Skilled Aboriginal divers sustainably harvest healthy seagrass and replant it in areas that have been damaged. “We are on a mission as Malgana people to look after country – because if we do, we know country looks after us,’’ he said after receiving his prize.

Two school teachers with science degrees have also been honoured in the awards. The winner of the prize for excellence in primary school science teaching is Paula Taylor, who works at the Academy of Future Skills and Caroline Chisholm School in Canberra. She has inspired more than 10,000 students and 480 classroom teachers by making science and technology lessons interesting for children, using real-world experiments.

Matt Dodds, from Glen Innes High School in NSW, won the prize for excellence in high school science teaching for his use of astronomy and astrophysics workshops to inspire teenagers to pursue STEM careers.