American Binary: Securing The World Today From The Quantum Menace of Tomorrow

Something in Common

What do ID Quantique, CryptoNext Security, evolutionQ, and NetraMark all have in common?

Well, they’re all companies working with post-quantum encryption, in one way or another.

And to that list of four, you can add one more, American Binary (formerly Ambit), a Quantum-Safe Networking (TM) and post-quantum encryption startup. Founded in 2019 by Kevin Kane and Andrew McElroy, American Binary is a Kirkland (a suburb east of Seattle), Washington company whose expert, multi-disciplinary team of technologists, engineers and security professionals — who possess a deep knowledge of privacy, communications, software engineering, and post-quantum security —  is creating a new information ecosystem by building Quantum-Safe Networks and communities.

So, how does American Binary protect enterprises today from quantum threats that are still some way down the road?

American Binary

Well, that happens via American Binary’s Post-Quantum Encryption-as-a-Service (QEaaS), which implements post-quantum encryption solutions and provides quantum-safe networking, ultimately lowering a company’s chances of a communication breach.

Following the NIST standardization path for post-quantum encryption, American Binary utilizes “lattice-based cryptography constructions that are not vulnerable to quantum computing brute force attacks.”

Kevin Kane is the CEO and Co-founder of American Binary. A US Army veteran prior to life as an entrepreneur, Kane has written extensively on quantum computing, cybersecurity, national security, energy economics, geopolitics, and International Relations Theory (IR).

Previously the founder of Claro Automata, LLC, a semantic analysis AI company, and Jumpgate Technologies, an ML-driven systematic equity L/S hedge fund, Kane obtained a BA in Political Science from Georgia State University and an MA in International Studies (IR Theory) from Seoul National University.

American Binary’s CTO and second Co-Founder is Andrew McElroy, a third-generation programmer with twenty years’ software engineering experience whose specialties extend to Ruby, Rails, JavaScript, Go, iOS, Android, BDD Testing, Unit Testing, Linux, Computer Vision, as well as full-stack development.

Along with these two, American Binary can brag of an Advisory Board of PhDs in Computer Science and Experimental Physics, CEOs, executives, and experienced engineers — everything needed to make the startup a success story.

When it comes to financing all this, American Binary has raised a total of $1.1 million in funding over two rounds, with the likes of Amazon Alexa Fund and Techstars on board as VCs.

January’s announcement about President Biden signing a memorandum concerning Post-Quantum Cryptography (highlighted by American Binary in its news section), proves the current administration intends to upgrade the Cybersecurity of National Security:

“Within 60 days of the date of this memorandum, the NSA shall revise and make available to Chief Information Officers the CNSS Advisory Memorandum 01–07 (Information Assurance Cryptographic Equipment Modernization) and any associated enclosures and relevant references regarding modernization planning, use of unsupported encryption, approved mission unique protocols, quantum-resistant protocols, and planning for use of quantum-resistant cryptography where necessary. Within 180 days of the date of this memorandum, agencies shall identify any instances of encryption not in compliance with NSA-approved Quantum Resistant Algorithms or CNSA.”

This, obviously, can only benefit companies like American Binary and others in a commercial sense, and move the conversation forward that preparation for a new technological paradigm is of the essence.

For more market insights, check out our latest quantum computing news here.