Cybersecurity Sector Should Pivot Some Focus to Quantum Computers

(ITProPortal) Technologists and researchers alike argue that the security sector should pivot some of its focus to quantum computers, which present a massive, long-term security predicament.
For the time being, only a handful of problems can be solved using algorithms that harness the power of quantum computation. Unfortunately, some of those problems constitute the basis of current public-key cryptography; hence, everything we take for granted today as secure will be in jeopardy, if a large enough quantum computer is the purveyor of a cyberattack in a few years’ time.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has warned, “If large-scale quantum computers are ever built, they will be able to break many of the public-key cryptosystems currently in use. This would seriously compromise the confidentiality and integrity of digital communications on the Internet and elsewhere.”
We still have much to understand about the mechanics, challenges, security implications and future of quantum computing. It is now a game of engineering, pre-emptive standardisation, clever mathematics, and a careful development approach to pave a safe way through the quantum computing era.