Cyber Security Experts Warn Data Security Encryption Will Be Blown Away by ‘Quantum Tornado’
(FT.com) Cyber security experts and intelligence agencies worry that data security encryption systems will be blown away by the quantum tornado birthed from quantum tech advancements presaged by Google’s quantum supremacy announcement. The article cautions a long journey between building a computer with quantum-like properties compared with a full-scale, commercial version, partly because of the ultra-low temperature conditions required by quantum computers. However, there are fears that a malicious state could get far enough to wreak havoc.
Already Late on Achieving Post-Quantum Security
While a small network of cyber researchers has been exploring post-quantum security protocols for decades, experts say we need to raise the pace. Cracking encryption could enable a rogue actor to spy on communications and data — including classified intelligence flowing between military agencies — or gain backdoor access to critical infrastructures and facilities. Agencies including the National Security Agency and National Institute of Standards and Technology in the US, and Government Communications Headquarters in the UK, are working on post-quantum cyber security.
The day a big quantum computer is built, all the cryptography we are using today is dead. “Even if the first quantum computer does not come for 20 years we are, in a sense, already late,” warns Christophe Petit, University of Birmingham.