“I try to make calculations on quantum computers more secure“
IT security for future technology
Despite her preference for mathematical subjects, Barbora Hrdá only ventured into computer science as a second step. Today, she is aware of her ability to familiarize herself with complex topics and is happy that her path has led her to Fraunhofer AISEC, where she conducts research in the field of IT security for quantum computing.
By Maria Poxleitner
“Thank God they didn't take me.” Barbora Hrdá taps on her desk and laughs. The 34-year-old computer scientist is talking about the rejection she received after applying for a place on the Master's in Eastern European Studies, an elite programme at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU) in Munich. Her laughter is tinged with relief. Relief that she can now pursue the profession that she knows she is passionate about.
Barbora succinctly sums up what she is working on: “I try to make calculations on quantum computers more secure.” While almost everyone today has their own computer, quantum computers are usually offered “as a service”. Users can access the quantum computer, which may be located at the manufacturer's site or in a data center, remotely via the Internet. “I use a cloud to access services that are not in my territory,” Barbora describes the situation. When you have your own computer in front of you, you know roughly what is going on on the device, she adds, but since you don't have your own quantum computer in the basement, you have to send the calculation you want to perform: “Once the calculation leaves your computer, you don't really know what happens to it. Will it be stored? Will it be modified? Who has access to it?”
Data security for quantum computing
It will still be a while before security standards like those in classical computing exist. As part of her doctoral research at the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied and Integrated Security AISEC, Barbora is investigating what such standards could look like and what options there are for the secure use of quantum computers in the meantime. “In IT security, we have two different protection goals: Confidentiality and Integrity,” explains the computer scientist. Data is confidential if no unauthorized person can read it. Integrity, on the other hand, means that data cannot be modified and therefore the results cannot be manipulated. To ensure integrity, you could, for example, run your calculations in parallel on several quantum computers from different manufacturers and compare the results at the end, explains Barbora. As for confidentiality, there are several approaches: “One is to disguise calculations in such a way that the quantum computer doesn't really know what it is calculating, but still comes up with the right solution.” One example is computing on encrypted data. Another approach is to break down algorithms down into sub-calculations, Barbora continues: “I then send each partial calculation to another quantum computer, which cannot infer the original algorithm from that fraction.” However, this approach is by no means trivial, and only certain problems are suitable for breaking them down into sub-problems in this way, Barbora emphasizes – “So far, it's only working halfway,” she admits.
At the end of her school days, Barbora would never have thought that she would one day be researching IT security for quantum computing. From the fifth grade on, the Prague native lived with her mother and brother in Munich, where she attended a science high school. “I always liked math,” recalls the young computer scientist. Unfortunately, she had a teacher in high school who did anything but encourage his female students to pursue STEM careers. “At the time, I didn't have the confidence to say, ‘I can do this, I'm ready for it’.”
Barbora therefore initially decided to study Slavic studies with a minor in Theater Studies. But what was supposed to be a stopgap, she liked so much that she went on to complete her bachelor's degree. Coming from a high school with a strong focus on science, she found the demands of a degree in the humanities very exciting: “There is no black and white. There are different possible interpretations and solutions that you can choose from, different views that you have to argue for.” Barbora also benefits from these skills in her current job: “I find it easier than others to produce good texts, to explain myself and to put into words what I'm working on and how I'm going about it.”
Barbora Hrdá, 34
Position
Ph.D. student
Institute
Fraunhofer Institute for Applied and Integrated Security
QACI
Degree
Slavic Studies, Theater Studies & Computer Science
In her research, Barbora is investigating what IT security standards for quantum computing could look like and what possibilities there are to use quantum computers securely today. To this end, she is looking at concepts at both software and hardware level.
From the humanities to IT
Even though she really enjoyed Slavic Studies, by the end of her bachelor's degree Barbora was struggling with her previous education and wondering what to do next. Nevertheless, she applied to LMU's elite graduate program in Eastern European Studies as an obvious next step. But at the same time, she also applied for a place on the “Computing in the Humanities” master's program in Bamberg, which introduces graduates of humanities bachelor's programs to computer science.The decision for or against the Master's in Eastern European Studies was taken away from her by the rejection from LMU. However, feedback from Bamberg was long in coming over the summer. What is plan B if I’m also rejected for this master's programme? And if I do get in, will I make it? To get away from thinking too much and to pass the time, Barbora decided to walk part of the Camino de Santiago together with her boyfriend and a friend from school. “If you think about what keeps you busy every day and how many thoughts are running through your head – on the Camino de Santiago, you're mainly worried about where you're going to get something to eat and where you're going to spend the next night. That slows you down," says Barbora, describing her experience of long-distance hiking.
After returning from Spain, she received her acceptance letter for Bamberg. There wasn't much time to manage the move and she started her new courses: lots of mathematics, algorithms, data structures, discrete modeling – “The first six months were tough,” Barbora remembers: “You start from scratch and have no previous knowledge to build on.” But then she started to enjoy it, and the feeling that she was doing what she had always wanted to do grew stronger. The Ph.D. student remembers her first programming experiences: “When you work for hours on a program and it doesn't work, and you get annoyed because you forgot a semicolon somewhere – but that feeling when it works, that was something I didn't know from the humanities, and that was a confirmation that I found incredibly great!”
Today, Barbora is no longer worried about entering unfamiliar territory and learning the ropes in new fields of work. After completing her master's degree, she worked for three years as a software developer at an insurance company. But she eventually came to the conclusion that it would not fulfill her in the long run – “I was just the implementer of things. I missed the intellectual challenge”. Finally, at a Fraunhofer information event, she came across Fraunhofer AISEC, an institute for cyber security research. After applying to several Fraunhofer institutes, she least expected to be accepted by Fraunhofer AISEC: “I had experience in computer science, but no idea about IT security.”
However, the appreciative atmosphere and her friendly colleagues more than made up for venturing into a new field again, and it is clear to see that the young computer scientist now feels very much at home at her institute: a brief small talk with the lady at reception, a friendly nod here, a warm “good morning” there. Barbora is currently alone in her two-person office because her colleague is on vacation. She gets along very well with Vivija, the doctoral student says enthusiastically, and it was Vivija who introduced her to bouldering. As a former ice hockey player, Barbora also enjoys watching the games of EHC Red Bull München, the successful ice hockey club from the Bavarian capital, in her free time. Together with her boyfriend, whom she met at her former club, she goes to the stadium from time to time. As a talented ice skater – as all former ice hockey players are – she recently wanted to try out the ice rink in the SAP Garden, the new home of the EHC in the Olympic Park. However, she couldn't convince her boyfriend, who was more than skeptical about going ice skating in August, that it would be a good way to cool off on those hot August days, laughs Barbora.
“If I don't know something, I can learn it”
It has also become quite warm in her office today on this hot summer afternoon. Books on hacking and IT security, Rubik's Cubes and the odd Lego toy are stacked on the windowsill. Barbora continues her career at Fraunhofer AISEC. While she was employed as a research assistant for the first few years, she has now decided to pursue a doctorate. Munich Quantum Valley played an important role in her choice of topic. Within this large network of research institutions, Fraunhofer AISEC contributes its expertise in the field of IT security to the joint efforts to develop quantum computers. And so this topic was brought to Barbora – once again new territory for the computer scientist. But now she has the confidence she lacked after leaving school: “If I don't know something, I can learn it.” She has familiarized herself with quantum computing through tutorials, intensive participation in summer schools, and numerous hackathons.
Barbora is currently preparing for a research stay in the USA. She will spend five months at Yale University in New Haven on the East Coast. There, she will be working on hardware-related solutions for IT security in quantum computing, specifically on the topic of Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs). TEEs are now standard in conventional computers, the computer scientist explains: “You can think of it as a kind of separate security area on the computer hardware.” Only very specific processes, such as cryptography, are allowed to take place there. All data inside the TEE – for example, keys for decoding data already recorded during production – cannot be read or manipulated by code outside this area. Barbora continues: “We are now faced with the question of whether such TEEs will also be needed for quantum computers and, if so, how they can actually be implemented.”
She has never been to America before, Barbora says. She will definitely use her time in New Haven to explore the surrounding area on the weekends, especially Boston and New York City. Even though she is a little nervous about going, she is full of joy and curiosity about this next little adventure.
Published 31 October 2024; Interview 12 August 2024