Quantum automation for cyber defence: Moving beyond classical limits in real-time threat response

Cyber threats have increased in complexity, scale and effectiveness affecting our systems, infrastructure and people. Increase in impactful cyber incidents have exposed the limitations of current cyber defense technologies highlighting the need for more effective approaches. Quantum computing offers unparalleled promise due to its ability to effectively process a large amount of information fast and uncover previously unseen and unknown patterns - the quantum advantage. A significant limitation of current cyber defence technology is their inability to rapidly analyse high dimensional state spaces and detect patterns or subtle correlations that can serve as early indicators of adversarial activity. This limitation further extends to their inability to identify globally optimal cyber defense responses when presented with a large set of variables choices. 

Quantum automation aims to address both these limitations by leveraging quantum principles such as superposition and entanglement - for high-fidelity identification of attack patterns, for optimal selection of cyber defence strategies at speed and to discover novel cyber defense strategies that do not scale in classical computing. 

In this talk, we will present novel quantum computing capability (a proof of concept) for detecting cyber threats early and responding to them automatically almost in real time - by effectively harnessing quantum principles such as superposition and entanglement combined with artificial intelligence (AI) to anticipate, understand and mitigate cyber threats more effectively than ever before. 

By integrating quantum concepts with artificial intelligence, we can create sophisticated models that simulate complex threat scenarios and adaptive behaviours of cyber adversaries. Such capability will deliver tangible benefits by preventing compromise of our critical infrastructures, systems and people by sophisticated adversaries and ensuring we remain cyber safe. It will also cement Australia’s position as a leader in quantum technologies and advance our national ambitions to become an advanced knowledge economy. 

In this talk. we move beyond the quantum hype. The talk will detail the practical journey from "quantising", designing quantum circuits to lab-based simulations to executing these algorithms on real-world Quantum processors.