qProtect

Of all the methods of encryption ever devised, only one has been mathematically proved to be completely secure. It is called the Vernam cipher or one-time pad. In this technique, a plaintext is paired with random, secret key (or pad). Then, each bit or character of the plaintext is encrypted by combining it with the corresponding bit or character from the pad. If the key is true random, at least as long as the plaintext, and never reused, then the resulting cipher-text will be impossible to decrypt or break.

The security of all other ciphers is based on limits to computational power. If a cipher is computationally secure this means the probability of cracking the encryption key using current computational technology and algorithms within a reasonable time is supposedly extremely small, yet not impossible. In theory, every cryptographic algorithm except for the One-Time Pad can be broken given enough cipher-text and time.

qProtect leverages our patented qStream technology to deliver unique true random keys enabling perfectly secure encryption of sensitive data.

In cryptography, zeroization is the practice of erasing sensitive parameters (for example electronically stored data and cryptographic keys) to prevent their disclosure if the equipment is captured. This is generally accomplished by altering or deleting the contents to prevent recovery of the data. When encryption was performed by mechanical devices, this would often mean changing all the machine’s settings to some fixed, meaningless value, such as zero, hence the name zeroization.

In modern software based cryptographic modules, zeroization is made considerably more complex by issues such as virtual memory, compiler optimizations and use of flash memory. Also, zeroization may need to be applied not only to the key and cipher-text, but also to a plaintext and some intermediate values. A cryptographic software developer must have an intimate understanding of memory management in a machine, and be prepared to zeroize data whenever a sensitive location might move outside the security boundary. Typically this will involve overwriting the data with zeroes, but in the case of some types of non-volatile storage the process is much more complex.

qProtect, by delivering true one time pad encryption with automatic key destruction removes the need for manual zeroization. We say that it enables “Virtual Zeroization”. This allows sensitive data to remain perfectly secure even in the event of capture, while avoiding the need to preventively destroy the data.