An Investigation of Privacy and Software Engineering in the Context of Quantum Computing

This study delves into the crucial paradigm of privacy engineering for data protection in software design, specifically focusing on its application in Quantum Computing (QC). The relevance and importance of this focus must be considered. Implementing a full-scale QC requires time and heavy investment in IT infrastructure. The ultimate solution for deploying QC is a hybrid of classical computers interfacing with QC in hybrid clouds. While QC is a secure system by design, it has to interface with classical computers, which do not have such advanced security embedded in their design. The current study reviews the main QC and software developers to shed light on this hybrid integration. We also explore the recent NIST secure algorithms designed for such integration. Modern security algorithms such as RSA and ECC cannot continue in the era of quantum computing. Our study's findings are significant, as they highlight the potential of integrating the existing privacy engineering frameworks with advanced features of QC algorithms, particularly post-quantum cryptography (PQC) secure algorithms. In particular, the study highlights homomorphic and quantum key distribution algorithms for encryption and secure key distribution in a privacy-preserving approach.