Enhancing network security with Accenture Federal Services using quantum optimization
Federal agencies face a critical optimization challenge in today's cybersecurity landscape: effectively detecting security threats and inefficiencies in increasingly complex network activity. These challenges manifest as outlier "anomalies" that emerge from analyzing intricate device communication patterns across vast federal networks.
The federal sector is increasingly turning to advanced technologies like quantum computing and artificial intelligence to address these challenges. These tools offer new capabilities for processing complex network data and identifying subtle patterns that might indicate security threats or operational inefficiencies.
In a groundbreaking opportunity, we collaborated with Accenture Federal Services to explore innovative approaches to network security optimization. This partnership focused on leveraging quantum computing capabilities, applying our error suppression software, Fire Opal, to IonQ hardware through Amazon Braket, to enhance anomaly detection in complex network environments, where traditional methods face significant computational limitations.
Raising the security standard with quantum computing
Network anomaly detection is inherently difficult because it’s rooted in solving a very challenging problem known as Max-Cut optimization. This problem requires splitting a network of connected “nodes” into two separate groups in a way that maximizes the communication—the “cut”—between them. It sounds simple, but as network size and complexity grow, the number of possible solutions increases exponentially. Classical solutions often rely on approximations that take shortcuts to save time.
The partnership exemplifies how combining domain expertise with cutting-edge quantum technology can create transformative solutions. By focusing on the Max-Cut optimization problem, the team developed an approach that maintains both organizations' strengths while pushing the boundaries of what's possible in network security.
Building high-performance quantum solutions with quantum infrastructure software
Working together, our teams leveraged Fire Opal's optimization solver while incorporating Accenture Federal Services’ extensive experience in federal security requirements. This collaborative approach ensured that the solution met rigorous security standards while taking advantage of quantum computing's unique capabilities. Using the Fire Opal Optimization Solver, we simplified the process of implementing a hybrid quantum-classical algorithm to address the problem The Optimization Solver accepts a high-level problem definition and implements a hardware-efficient hybrid workflow that leverages the benefits of both quantum and classical computing.
In addition to problem abstraction, the Fire Opal Optimization Solver incorporates world-leading error suppression to push the quantum hardware to the limits whenever the QPU is called. This effective performance enhancement technology for quantum computers is delivered as a simple, fully automated solution suitable for end users of quantum computers. By suppressing errors automatically, Fire Opal enables application builders to run more complex use cases leveraging the full hardware potential.
The underlying technology is inherently hardware-agnostic, which enabled Accenture Federal Services to employ their approach on IonQ hardware accessed through the Amazon Braket quantum computing service.
Delivering world-class results
The success of this collaboration was demonstrated through comprehensive testing using the Westermo Network Traffic dataset. Accenture Federal Services tested over 1.8 million network packets recorded over 90 minutes. The joint solution achieved remarkable results, showcasing how strategic partnerships can drive innovation in quantum computing applications.
In performing the data analysis via quantum optimization, the Optimization Solver achieved an accurate solution and did so with a 3x higher success probability over a classical benchmark “local solver”. This is a well-constructed but non-optimal classical benchmark, and outperforming it suggests that not only is the problem sufficiently hard to be considered for quantum solutions, but also that quantum optimization may form the basis for the detection of fraud and illicit behavior as quantum computers increase in size and capability over the coming years.
We have seen firsthand how Fire Opal enhances the performance of today’s quantum hardware, delivering measurable improvements in anomaly detection and large-scale optimization challenges. As Fire Opal expands its compatibility with devices like IonQ through Amazon Braket, it opens the door for broader adoption of Q-CTRL’s error suppression techniques. This integration would help accelerate the practical application of quantum solutions and empower researchers and developers at AFS to achieve more accurate and reliable results in critical areas like cybersecurity and optimization.
Raymond Beecham, Security Delivery Specialist at Accenture Federal Services.
This isn’t the first time that Fire Opal has enabled major advances in network analysis - our customer Softbank also recently showed exciting potential in network fault diagnosis via quantum machine learning algorithms executed through Fire Opal!
Preparing for quantum readiness through an ecosystem approach
By beginning to explore solutions on today’s quantum hardware, Accenture Federal Services is positioning itself for a future where quantum technologies will be indispensable for tackling the most complex network security challenges. They are also learning to navigate the landscape of quantum hardware and software by leveraging flexible infrastructure software that works out-of-the-box with multiple cloud platforms and cloud-accessible hardware systems, such as Amazon Braket and IonQ.
This previews the availability of Fire Opal’s error suppression technology on trapped ion devices. Users looking to achieve quality results across QPU modalities will soon be able to leverage IonQ's Forte and Aria devices with Fire Opal through an upcoming integration with Amazon Braket.
This integration demonstrates our commitment to making quantum technology useful through a focus on delivering hardware-agnostic, error-reducing, performance-management software to all quantum computing users through the breadth of the AWS network.
It takes an ecosystem working together to narrow the performance gap between the promise of quantum computers and the actual computational capabilities delivered to end users. This partnership has laid the groundwork for future collaborations in quantum computing, demonstrating the value of combining specialized expertise with innovative technology solutions. We’re excited to be accelerating the entire industry and moving closer to unlocking new quantum-enabled applications across industries like logistics, finance, and chemistry.
We are presenting and exhibiting at Q2B Silicon Valley this week, an international conference uniting academics, end users, government officials and vendors to discuss the progress and future of the quantum industry. Please visit us at Hall A, Booth #G5!
Customers can also experience the benefits of our error suppression software, Fire Opal, for free.
