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The Israel Innovation Authority announced on Thursday the launch of a NIS 36 million (approximately $10 million) fund for human capital programs aimed at fostering expertise in quantum, AI, cleantech, foodtech, and Bio-Convergence. Through the joint governmental and private sector investment, approximately 2,000 participants will take part in 20 programs over the next two years.

The call for proposals, based on the Authority's program known as "Human Capital Fund for High-Tech", was launched in March 2023 to establish specialized human capital by offering training and qualifications in advanced technological fields. The Israel Innovation Authority, in response to the recommendations of the National Infrastructure Forum for Research and Development (Telem), will allocate a significant portion of approximately NIS 5 million ($1.4 million) to enable in-depth training for the integration of skilled professionals into the quantum computing industry.

Additionally, two pilot programs, developed in collaboration with the Ministry of Defense, have been approved to train and place Druze community members in crucial roles in artificial intelligence, AgriTech, and water technology.

From 49 program proposals received, 20 were selected to operate across the country. These programs will receive a cumulative government grant of NIS 19.8 million ($5.5 million) to facilitate the training and placement of 1,920 graduates from diverse populations.

Organizations selected to run programs include The Hebrew University, Elevation Education, The Technion, Master School, Science Abroad, Brainstorm IL, 8200 Alumni Association, AYYT Technological Applications and Data, Ramot at Tel Aviv University, Rambam Medical Center, Jordan Valley Academic College, Epsilon Climate, RACHIP VERIFICATION LTD, IDC Tech, Extra-tech, StellarAI, and Infinity Labs.

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Israel Innovation Authority to invest $10 million to develop human ... - CTech

From the shocking scoop of Matt Hancocks Whatsapp messages to Boris reticence to share his messages, the use of secure messaging has become a hot topic. Although it may seem like a new trend, the recent stream of government-centred controversies are far from the first weve seen, nor are they the most costly. Last year alone, US financial institutions were fined almost two billion dollars for communicating over messaging services like WhatsApp.

Instant messaging is now a preferred means of communication, it is convenient, easily digestible and seen as secure. Whether we like it or not, the simple truth is that messaging is here to stay. We must accept this and work to update the way we view and manage messaging so as to ensure security and regulatory compliance.

As a former computer auditor for major financial institutions, turned cybersecurity expert, who now runs a company that provides secure messaging services, I can say from experience that there are three issues which businesses and governments are failing to take action on. The first I call the compliance problem, the second is the metadata problem and the third is the quantum problem. Unless we can address all three issues, we are sleepwalking into an oblivion of our own making.

As I previously mentioned, late last year major financial institutions in the US were fined almost two billion dollars for failing to prevent their employees from using non-compliant messaging services. Furthermore, there has been significant public debate over the so-called government by WhatsApp over the pandemic in the UK.

Historically, communications in finance and government were meticulously recorded and took place through official channels which had official norms. This is because, in the case of both of these areas, significant oversight is required in order to ward off malpractice and provide accountability. Many secure messaging services prevent the monitoring of communications, which is key to providing this essential compliance.

This is because with many secure messaging services the central institutions (e.g., watchdogs, governments, etc.) have no control over the messages and whether they are deleted. It also prevents regulators from accessing them in some cases. This is why banking regulators are coming down so hard when institutions use tools without an audit trail.

Fines and controversy can easily be avoided by implementing a secure chat solution without weakening any encryption, but also one that permits access to regulators in the event an investigation is required.

On average, financial institutions and governments take data security incredibly seriously. As a norm VPNs are required to access data and messaging services are centrally controlled and very secure. In finance in particular, even small data leaks can have huge implications in terms of financial and reputational losses.

For instance, imagine if metadata were obtained which showed that a CEO from a major company was messaging a CEO from another major company. Even if the content of the messages could not be seen, it may lead to inferences that an acquisition could soon take place. The speculation could have a huge impact on markets.

Many users of generic messaging platforms do not realise that this metadata can be accessed, compiled, analysed and sold on. Secure messaging providers can often access metadata like this even if end-to-end encryption prevents them from seeing the content of the message itself. Therefore, the use of these third-party messaging services can risk this metadata falling into the wrong hands and exposing all manner of sensitivities.

Thats why security and privacy sensitive industries need their own proprietary messaging services, where they control the infrastructure as well as encryption and the metadata insights that are inevitably emitted.

When a sufficiently large quantum computer is developed it will be able to access almost all encrypted data. While this may still be a few years off, encrypted data can be harvested now so that it can be decrypted later when a large enough quantum computer is developed.

Governments and major financial institutions routinely handle data which will remain sensitive for decades. This data is vulnerable to Harvest Now, Decrypt Later attacks even if it is sent over messaging services like WhatsApp that rely only on todays encryption algorithms. To be truly secure today, a messaging service needs to encrypt against both classical and quantum attacks. The latest US legislation makes this point abundantly clear by mandating federal agencies transition to post-quantum encryption.

So, what should we do?

Now that messaging is such a core part of how we communicate, we need to start a dialogue on how to do it right. At a bare minimum, we must implement solutions which are regulatorily compliant and are secure from metadata mining and quantum attack.

Organisations have long understood these principles as they relate to general networking but now is the time to apply those same tried and tested principles to how we chat.

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The problem with secure messaging - ComputerWeekly.com

1Passwordhas begun testing a way to access the app without its namesake password, adding an option to use newer passkey technologyinstead. The change, which uses a quick biometric check to unlock and use your password vault, could help improve the widely usedpassword manager'ssecurity.

The software's primary job is to create, store, sync and autofill passwords for all the apps and websites you use. Until now, its password storage vaults have been protected by its own password (in combination with a secret key the first time you used 1Password on a new device). But now 1Password developer AgileBits has begun a private test that'll let participants unlock their password vaults with a passkey instead.

The test works on iPhones, Macs and web browsers, but it's a private beta and testers will have to set up a new account to try it. Android, Windows and Linux support will come later, as well as the ability to upgrade an existing account, the company said. 1Password aims to release the technology to everyone by the end of 2023.

1Password is CNET's current pick for best premium password manager. See how it compares to the competition in our guide to thebest password managers of 2023.

Passkey unlock for 1Password is designed to be easier to use than passwords. By default, 1Password's phone apps require you to retype your password every two weeks. But with a lower-hassle passkey authentication, you might be more inclined to keep your vaults locked, reducing risks from stolen devices.

"Unlocking 1Password with a passkey offers the best of both worlds: best-in-class security paired with maximum convenience," AgileBits said in a blog post.

Passkeys are a newer authentication technology designed to leave behind the shortcomings of password-based login. They are the top example of products developed for the "passwordless" era that tech companies are trying to gradually move us toward.

Interested in trying it out? "We recommend that folks sign up for ourpasswordless newsletter so they can be notified if and when seats in this private beta become available," the company said. If you're not a 1Password customer, you can also use passkeys on Android, iOS and web browsers with Apple and Google software that doesn't use 1Password at all.

Apple, Google and Microsoft helped develop passkeys to be as easy to use as passwords but much more secure. To use a passkey, you typically perform a face or fingerprint biometric authentication step on a device that stores the passkey. If your biometrics don't work, you can use the fall back to the device unlock procedure and type in your device's passcode.

The combination of device possession and biometric check counts as strong two-factor authentication that's more secure than a password alone or weaker two-factor authentication measures like login codes sent by text message.

In June, 1Password began testing the ability to store passkeys in its software and to sync passkeys across devices.

Password problems are abundant. Because they're hard to remember, we tend to reuse them on lots of websites and services, multiplying the ability of a hacker who obtains a password. Password managers make it easier to create strong, unique passwords, but they can be complicated to use.

Passkeys aren't without complications, though. For now, Apple can sync passkeys across Apple devices and its Safari browser, but Google syncs them across its own products. 1Password and another password manager adding passkey support, Dashlane, add extra management responsibilities.

You can set up separate passkeys to sign into the same site, though -- for example logging into Gmail with your Android phone and with Safari on your Mac. Passkey proponents are working on passkey import and export tools to ease such hassles.

Passkeys use technology called public key cryptography that's also used to secure countless online connections. Passkeys only work with the website or app they were set up with, blocking the use of fake websites to fool you into sharing your login credentials.

Google has enabled passkey login for its online services like Gmail, WorkSpace and YouTube, and its tests show passkey authentication is twice as fast as password login.

Apple, too, has embraced passkeys for signing onto iCloud and other Apple ID-based accounts with the upcoming iOS 17 and MacOS Sonoma.

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1Password Tests Passkey Login to Unlock Your Password Vault - CNET

Quantum computers could beat classical ones at answering practical questions within two years, a new experiment from IBM computers shows. The demonstration hints that true quantum supremacy, in which quantum computers overtake classical digital ones, could be here surprisingly soon.

"These machines are coming," Sabrina Maniscalco, CEO of Helsinki-based quantum-computing startup Algorithmiq, told Nature News.

In the new study, described Wednesday (June 14) in the journal Nature, scientists used IBM's quantum computer, known as Eagle, to simulate the magnetic properties of a real material faster than a classical computer could. It achieved this feat because it used a special error-mitigating process that compensated for noise, a fundamental weakness of quantum computers.

Traditional silicon-chip-based computers rely on "bits" that can take just one of two values: 0 or 1.

By contrast, quantum computers employ quantum bits, or qubits, that can take on many states at once. Qubits rely on quantum phenomena such as superposition, in which a particle can exist in multiple states simultaneously, and on quantum entanglement, in which the states of distant particles can be linked so that changing one instantaneously changes the other. In theory, this allows qubits to make calculations much faster, and in parallel, that digital bits would do slowly and in sequence.

But historically, quantum computers have had an Achilles' heel: The quantum states of qubits are incredibly delicate, and even the tiniest disruption from the outside environment can mess with their states and thereby the information they carry forever. That makes quantum computers very error-prone or "noisy."

In the new proof-of-principle experiment, the 127-qubit Eagle supercomputer, which uses qubits built on superconducting circuits, calculated the complete magnetic state of a two-dimensional solid. The researchers then carefully measured the noise produced by each of the qubits. It turned out that certain factors, such as defects in the supercomputing material, could reliably predict the noise generated in each qubit. The team then used these predictions to model what the results would have looked like without that noise, Nature News reported.

Claims of quantum supremacy have surfaced before: In 2019, Google scientists claimed that the company's quantum computer, known as Sycamore, had solved a problem in 200 seconds that an ordinary computer would take 10,000 years to crack. But the problem it solved essentially spitting out a huge list of random numbers and then checking their accuracy, had no practical use.

By contrast, the new IBM demonstration applies to a real albeit highly simplified physical problem.

"It makes you optimistic that this will work in other systems and more complicated algorithms," John Martinis, a physicist at the University of California, Santa Barbara, who achieved the 2019 Google result, told Nature News.

You can read more about the quantum computing milestone at Nature News.

Excerpt from:
Quantum computers could overtake classical ones within 2 years, IBM 'benchmark' experiment shows - Space.com

Editors note: The Best Industry for Long-Term Investors? was previously published in May 2023. It has since been updated to include the most relevant information available.

What do you think happens in Area 51?

The government assures us its just for military testing and the like. But with all the unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP) seen in American skies these days, many folks across the internet question whether theres more happening in Area 51 than the government would have you believe.

No, Im not saying aliens are real. And like you, I dont know what happens in Area 51.

But what I will say is that something much more important and revolutionary is happening in an entirely different, yet equally secretive, area. Something that could change the world as we know it something that I call Area 52.

Area 52 is a 52-mile test loop that runs 26 miles in two directions out of the southwest Chicago suburbs. It connects the Argonne National Laboratory to the Boughton Road Toll Plaza. And its where the U.S. government is testing a groundbreaking new technology that could have a more profound impact on the world than any technology in our lifetimes.

In fact, some experts say this tech could be more important to humankind than the discovery of fire.

And its not artificial intelligence.

Instead, it is quantum computing.

Ill start by saying that the underlying physics of this breakthrough quantum mechanics is highly complex. It would likely require over 500 pages to fully understand.

But, alas, heres my best job at making a Cliffs Notes version in 500 words instead.

For centuries, scientists have developed, tested, and validated the laws of the physical world, known as classical mechanics. These scientifically explain how and why things work, where they come from, so on and so forth.

But in 1897, J.J. Thomson discovered the electron. And he unveiled a new, subatomic world of super-small things that didnt obey the laws of classical mechanics at all. Instead, they obeyed their own set of rules, which have since become known as quantum mechanics.

The rules of quantum mechanics differ from that of classical mechanics in two very weird, almost-magical ways.

First, in classical mechanics, objects are in one place at one time. You are either at the store or at home, not both.

But in quantum mechanics, subatomic particles can theoretically exist in multiple places at once before theyre observed. A single subatomic particle can exist in point A and point B at the same time until we observe it. And at that point, it only exists at either point A or point B.

So, the true location of a subatomic particle is some combination of all its possible positions.

This is called quantum superposition.

Second, in classical mechanics, objects can only work with things that are also real. You cant use an imaginary friend to help move the couch. You need a real friend instead.

But in quantum mechanics, all of those probabilistic states of subatomic particles are not independent. Theyre entangled. That is, if we know something about the probabilistic positioning of one subatomic particle, then we know something about the probabilistic positioning of another subatomic particle meaning that these already super-complex particles can actually work together to create a super-complex ecosystem.

This is called quantum entanglement.

So in short, subatomic particles can theoretically have multiple probabilistic states at once, and all those probabilistic states can work together again, all at once to accomplish their task.

And that, in a nutshell, is the scientific breakthrough that stumped Einstein back in the early 1900s.

It goes against everything classical mechanics had taught us about the world. It goes against common sense. But its true. Its real. And now, for the first time ever, we are learning how to harness this unique phenomenon to change everything about everything

This is why the U.S. government is pushing forward on developing a National Quantum Internet in southwest Chicago. It understands that this tech could be more revolutionary than the discovery of fire or the invention of the wheel.

I couldnt agree more.

Mark my words. Everything will change over the next few years because of quantum mechanics and some investors will make a lot of money.

The study of quantum theory has led to huge advancements over the past century. Thats especially true over the past decade. Scientists at leading tech companies have started to figure out how to harness the power of quantum mechanics to make a new generation of super quantum computers. And theyre infinitely faster and more powerful than even todays fastest supercomputers.

And in fact, Haim Israel, managing director of research at Bank of America, believes that: By the end of this decade, the amount of calculations that we can make [on a quantum computer] will be more than the atoms in the visible universe.

Again, the physics behind quantum computers is highly complex, but heres my shortened version

Todays computers are built on top of the laws of classical mechanics. That is, they store information on what are called bits, which can store data binarily as either 1 or 0.

But what if you could turn those classical bits into quantum bits qubits to leverage superpositioning to be both 1 and 0 stores at once?

Further, what if you could leverage entanglement and have all multi-state qubits work together to solve computationally taxing problems?

Theoretically, youd create a machine with so much computational power that it would make todays most advanced supercomputers seem ancient.

Thats exactly whats happening today.

Google has built a quantum computer that is about 158 million times faster than the worlds fastest supercomputer.

Thats not hyperbole. Thats a real number.

Imagine the possibilities if we could broadly create a new set of quantum computers 158 million times faster than even todays fastest computers

Wed finally have the level of artificial intelligence (AI) that you see in movies. Thats because the biggest limitation to AI today is the robustness of machine learning algorithms, which are constrained by supercomputing capacity. With quantum computing capacity, you get infinitely improved machine learning algos and infinitely smarter AI.

We could eradicate disease. We already have tools like gene editing. But the effectiveness of gene editing relies on the robustness of underlying computing capacity to identify, target, insert, cut and repair genes. Insert quantum computing capacity, and all that happens without an error in seconds allowing for us to truly fix anything about anyone.

We could finally have that million-mile EV. We can only improve batteries if we can test them. And we can only test them in the real world so much. Therefore, the key to unlocking a million-mile battery is through cellular simulation. And the quickness and effectiveness of cellular simulation rests upon the robustness of the underlying computing capacity. Make that capacity 158 million times bigger, and cellular simulation will happen 158 million times faster.

The applications here are truly endless.

Quantum computing is one of the most underrated and most transformational technological breakthroughs since the internet.

In fact, it may be bigger than the internet or even the discovery of fire itself.

And at the epicenter of this technological transformation is one tiny tech startup that hardly anyone has heard about. And it has developed the worlds most advanced quantum hardware.

This stock could end up being one of the biggest winners of my career.

Learn more about that tiny stock and its breakthrough tech before it skyrockets.

On the date of publication, Luke Lango did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article.

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Quantum Computing: The Best Industry for Long-Term Investors? - InvestorPlace