Quantum cryptography ad cybersecurity
number of different combinations that can be used simultaneously is over 1 million. This is the fundamental difference that gives quantum computers overwhelming power. Aside from superposition, another useful and empowering quantum property the qubits provide is entanglement. This is a property which allows other unconnected qubits to react instantaneously to a change in state, no matter how far apart the qubits are. This means that, by measuring the state of one qubit, it is possible to assume properties of the other entangled qubits. Furthermore, in terms of a traditional computer, this is similar to having every bit connected to each other instead of relying on busses going to memory addresses to retrieve data. This is a huge advantage over traditional computers as there is no longer a need for read and write operations between changes in memory which will allow for more complex programmes. Many other quantum properties of qubits and manipulation with quantum gates (the quantum equivalent of logic gates) make the quantum computer exponentially more efficient that traditional computers. However, it is not only the helpful tasks such as quantum simulation and database searching that become more efficient. Quantum computers pose a serious threat to cybersecurity. Today the internet is used to process and transmit vast amounts of information which heavily rely on encryption to make the information unreadable if intercepted by hackers. The most secure and widely used encryptions today are not deemed ‘ unbreakable, ’ but rely on the great power and time it would take a computer to decode it using trial and error. To decode and obtain an RSA – 2048 bit encryption key – one of most secure asymmetric encryptions used today by banks and governments – it would take a modern computer approximately 300 trillion years. 7 The keys for these encryptions consist of multiplying large prime numbers together which makes factorization for a computer without the key very difficult. The computer has to factorize by dividing different numbers which are hundreds of digits long without knowing how close each attempt is to the correct prime numbers. In theory, using Shor’s algorithm for integer factorization and 4099 stable qubits, this encryption could be decoded in only 10 seconds. Without new and dramatically improved encryption systems, the quantum computer could turn into an extremely dangerous weapon if accessed by the wrong people. Needless to say, such efficient quantum computers are many years away, with the largest one to date being Google’s Bristlecone 72 – qubit quantum computer released inMarch 2018. Not only do these computers require billions of dollars’ worth of research and resources ; they also lack the quality of qubits at the moment. For example, the coherence time of most qubits is between 50-90 microseconds, meaning that operations must finish before that time which is when the qubits lose some of their vital quantum properties. Despite beingmany years away, the first stable quantum computer will create immense security issues, and no matter how much more complicated the encryption algorithms become, it will be a matter of seconds for such computers to decode the encrypted information. In short, with a lack of security, private information such as addresses, location, and credit card details, ranging up to important military communication could be accessed, and large organizations such as banks would be left seriously vulnerable. Therefore, a significantly different set of encryption algorithms that can be truly called ‘ unbreakable ’ is in my opinion the most important key for retaining privacy and peace in the future. This developing method is called quantum cryptography and similar to a quantum computer, it uses the principles of quantum mechanics to encrypt and transmit data in a way that cannot be intercepted and understood.
7 Baumhof 2019.
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