As artificial intelligence fuels a surge in convincing deepfakes and quantum computing advances toward real-world use, researchers have developed a quantum-safe encryption system designed to protect digital content from the next generation of cyberattacks.
The breakthrough addresses a growing global concern: that powerful quantum computers could eventually crack today's encryption standards, exposing financial systems, government communications, health data and digital media to large-scale hacking and fraud.
"Think of a regular computer hack as someone trying to pick a traditional door lock – it could take days, even years, to try every combination. But a quantum computer hack is like having a key that could try multiple combinations simultaneously. This is what makes quantum threats so powerful," said S.S. Iyengar, Knight Foundation School of Computing and Information Sciences Professor and director of the Digital Forensic Center of Excellence at FIU, who led the research.
The researchers, whose work was funded by the U.S. Army Research Office and published in IEEE Transactions on Consumer Electronics, developed a method that combines quantum encryption with secure internet transmission to guard against both traditional hacking methods and future quantum computer attacks. The system transports videos in a digital "lockbox" that scrambles data using cryptographic keys that only authorized users can decode.
In testing, the FIU method performed 10–15% better than comparable advanced encryption techniques. Researchers found their approach significantly reduced exploitable data patterns — structural weaknesses hackers rely on to decode protected files — making encrypted videos substantially harder to crack.
While quantum-based attacks remain rare, cybersecurity agencies worldwide are urging organizations to begin transitioning to post-quantum encryption. In 2025, the United Kingdom's National Cyber Security Centre advised large institutions to modernize their cryptographic systems by 2035 in anticipation of quantum-enabled threats.
Without proactive safeguards, advances in quantum computing could amplify risks ranging from sophisticated AI-generated deepfakes to large-scale data breaches and identity theft.
Through collaboration with QNU Labs, a cybersecurity company specializing in quantum technologies, researchers are advancing the platform toward commercial application.
The team is also scaling the technology to encrypt full-length video files and real-time streams, including video conferencing and surveillance systems.
Iyengar conducted the research with Yashas Hariprasad, an assistant professor of computer science at California State University, East Bay who was a doctoral candidate on the FIU team at the time of the research, and Naveen Kumar Chaudhary of India's National Forensic Sciences University.
