Quantum Computers Friend or Foe?

Jun 17th Quantum Computers Friend or Foe?

I admit it, I love technology. Does it love me back? Not so much. Sometimes. LOL I found this information on Quantum Computers fascinating and a little scary — Thought you might too.

Ever wonder why the prevalence China and Russia hacking every system they can get into, including banking, health care, military and intelligence? Why are they downloading huge amounts of indecipherable data? One possible reason could be the ultra-powerful and still-experimental technology called quantum computing, which leverages the quantum properties of atoms to quickly compute problems that no regular computer could crack. The race is on and the stakes are high. Whichever country/company successfully creates a quantum computer could have at its fingertips the ability to revolutionize tasks from researching new material, to the best route for delivery drivers. Not to mention making information currently indecipherable actually intelligible with quantum computers. Scary huh?

Hackers in the future could intercept and decrypt new data as it is produced. If the US doesn’t act quickly, it’s possible a foreign power with sufficiently powerful quantum computer could hack the internet and start decoding a lot of what we currently consider secure. Such as passwords, financial transactions, emails, test messages, intellectual property, secret communiques within and between the CIA, NSA, FBI, well you get the picture.

While researchers and security agencies are frantically trying to beat foreign governments in this race, they face technical stumbling blocks, such as coming up with standards for researchers to use and then presenting new measures in time. Quantum computers are completely different from conventional computers. Instead of circuits and processors, they use complex physics to force large amounts of information into a subatomic particle. Amazing.

The good news, brilliant mathematicians and cyber security experts in the world employed by many high tech firms in the US and the federal government are aware of the problem and have been working on solutions for years. Referred to as quantum-safe encryption, this type of encoding can be achieved by today’s computers, in almost the same time that current encryption require, but can’t be cracked by conventional or quantum computers. Of the many proposed algorithms for quantum-safe encryptions, Lattice encryption is the most popular approach and works by encoding information in a multidimensional “lattice” of data. Yep, fodder for my next paranormal romance.

However, before this quantum-safe encryption becomes available, it must first become an agreed-upon standard. Then developers, companies and government entities must translate it into code and insert it into numerous services and systems. Optimism is on the horizon, with a National Institute of Standards and Technology project which began approximately in 2016. Let’s hope the powers that be can reach an agreement before we are cyber-sunk.