Even today, quantum computing seems like something out of science fiction. Quantum computing has the potential to execute calculations over a hundred million times faster than the fastest supercomputer available today. This will be really beneficial for addressing the complex scientific issues.
However, it has a negative side effect in that it makes encryption that would have taken thousands of years to break with traditional computers breakable in a matter of minutes or even seconds. The consequence at the moment is that attackers are able to gather and store data that they can later use a quantum computer to attack. Some business and personal data will continue to be sensitive for a very long time. Therefore, it is worthwhile to prepare data for threats from quantum computing.
the workings of quantum computing
One may be excused for not believing in quantum computing because of the enormous performance improvement it offers over current "Von Neumann" machines. However, the speed is a byproduct of quantum computing's fundamentally distinct method of operation. The 1945 publication of John Von Neumann's computing theory remains the foundation for modern computer chips. Each operation in this system is carried out sequentially by being read from the input device, logically processed, and then output once again to storage.
This is how all supercomputers, even massively parallel ones, work. The CPU core will still carry out each operation sequentially even if thousands of them are being done at once. Despite being much simpler than CPUs, GPUs still have sequential units, but with far more parallelization of a much larger number of units. Traditional computing utilises bits, which have two states and are typically denoted by the numbers 0 and 1. After the operation, the output will either be the same as the input or another state. Breaking difficulties down into discrete sequential calculations might result in challenges that are much above the capabilities of present architectures as problems become more complicated and have more alternatives to calculate.
Quantum computers don't operate in this way. A quantum computer works on the probability of an object's state before it is measured rather than having a large number of separate computing cores to perform sequential operations on single bits in parallel. These unknown states of an item before detection, such as the polarisation of a photon or the spin of an electron, are referred to as qubits. These quantum states mix many different potential positions at once as opposed to only two since they lack a distinct position prior to measurement.
These mixed states can nevertheless be "entangled" with those of other things in a mathematically relevant way even if they are undefinable until they are measured. Complex issues can be resolved using an algorithm and this entanglement's mathematics in practically one action. On the one hand, this can be applied to extremely challenging scientific problems like anticipating the interactions of numerous particles in a chemical reaction or developing security codes that are far more difficult to crack than the ones in use today. However, because they can process a large number of potential answers at once, they can also be used to break existing codes that would have been difficult to crack with computer technology as it is.
To put this into perspective, the common 2,048-bit RSA encryption would take a typical computer almost 300 trillion years to decipher, which is 22,000 times the age of the universe. However, Shor's Algorithm, which is made to identify the prime factors of an integer used in encryption keys, would take just 10 seconds on a quantum computer with 4,099 qubits. It is obvious that several different types of cryptography are in risk. For instance, the widely used SSL and TLS, which are used to secure web connections, use 2,048-bit RSA keys and might, thus, be broken by a quantum computer.
How quickly do modern quantum computers operate?
We were not yet at this point, which is wonderful news. 4,099 qubits may not sound like much in the age of 64-core computers that can carry out more than 3 billion operations per second per core, but they are still more than the most powerful quantum computer available right now. Only 127 qubits are in IBM's Eagle, which was presented at the end of 2021. Jiuzhang at the University of Science and Technology of China has 76 cubits, Google's Sycamore only has 53 qubits, and the majority of quantum processors (QPUs) have fewer than 50 qubits. D-Wave offers "quantum annealing" processors with up to 5,760 qubits, although they only allow for a small number of outcomes and are unable to run the Shor's Algorithm needed to decrypt data.
However, progress is being made. In 2022, Xanadu intends to introduce the 216-qubit Borealis QPU, whereas IBM targets 433 qubits in 2022 with Osprey and 1,121 qubits in 2023 with Condor. Therefore, while conventional encryption is currently safe, it won't be for very long. By 2025, IBM's strategy, for instance, aims for 4,158 qubits, making it plausible that 2,048-bit RSA can be cracked virtually in real time before 2030, which is the deadline.
NIST initially predicted that it would be secure at that time. The first commercially available quantum computer from D-Wave cost $15 million when it was delivered in 2017, therefore you might not be able to buy one by 2030. Prices will drop, but for years to come, it is likely that only big businesses and nations will have QPUs. The threat is present, though, because not all of those nations will have our best interests in mind.
cyber security defences against quantum computing
Fortunately, there is still time to prepare for the threat, such as by deploying post-quantum cryptography-based security technologies. These solutions can safeguard your private information today and safeguard it from quantum computing threats in the future.
With a quantum computer, Shor's Algorithm can break all of the discrete logarithm, integer factorization, or elliptic-curve discrete logarithm encryption techniques now in use. Post-quantum cryptography adopts different strategies that are resistant to quantum computation. Although the six main methods of research are still in their infancy, there are currently goods on the market that use the technology. A good illustration is QST-VPN, a based
features post-quantum secure algorithms guarding user data on the OpenVPN library. With clients for Windows, MacOS, and a variety of Linux distributions, the server software is offered via the AWS cloud, giving organisations the chance to start reinforcing their security now rather than after the quantum horse has fled.
The speed at which we can conduct calculations has the potential to revolutionise thanks to quantum computing. This new technological advancement has both positive and negative effects. But now that we know what the near future holds for cyber security, we can at least start making plans to ensure that the more positive applications of quantum computing outweigh the more dangerous ones.
This content was produced by TechRadar Pro as part of a compensated collaboration with One Beyond. This article's contents are wholly independent and only represent One Beyond's editorial viewpoint.
