Events on Monday, February 2nd, 2026
- CS Seminars on Quantum Computing
- Quantum Computer Security in NISQ and FTQC Eras
- Time: 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
- Place: Morgridge Hall - MH B2516
- Speaker: Jakub Szefer, Northwestern University
- Abstract: Quantum computing systems continue to advance rapidly in their size and fidelity. In parallel, there is an increasing number of deployments of these quantum computing systems into cloud-based services for use by researchers and the public: they are becoming available as cloud-based services thanks to IBM Quantum, Amazon Braket, Microsoft Azure, and other cloud providers, as well as they can be accessed from many clouds run directly by the quantum computing vendors. The cloud-based access to quantum computers may make these systems vulnerable to novel security attacks, both for users and the cloud providers. In this context, the talk will introduce the emergent work on security of quantum computing: what are present security threats, what are possible defenses, and how to help develop secure-by-design quantum computers. The talk will explore both security issues in NISQ quantum computers, and the emergent FTQC quantum computers as they are likely to be available in cloud-based deployments soon. This talk is about security attacks (and defenses) for quantum computers, it will not cover post-quantum cryptography.
- Host: Swamit Tannu