- cross-posted to:
- australia
- cross-posted to:
- australia
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The notion that quantum computing will make encryption useless anytime in the near future is a wild fantasy.
Yes, the potential exists that a fully realized version of quantum computing might do this. If such a thing actually ends up existing anytime soon. That is a big if. Right now we’re still very much in the “Working out if this is even feasible” stage.
Even if fully realized quantum computers become a thing, and do all the things we want them to do, we’ll be decades away from having enough of them to be able to apply quantum compute time to any random conversation on the off chance it contains something important. That’s like fishing by hocking gold bars into the ocean in the hopes that one of them hits a fish on the way down.
Also getting tired of people associating the word “quantum” with futuristic or extremely advanced, thinking somehow they will supercharge AI or something.
All it means is the idea that everything is discrete packets of energy, or “quanta”, existing in various fields. It’s a mathematical model to describe what we see. That’s it.
In the case of quantum computing, there is a real meaning to it (in really vague terms, its computing using the suoerposition of quantum states to complex extraordinarily complex problems down to a single answer). The problem rather is that right now companies are eagerly hyping this tech as being “just around the corner” when it’s nothing of the sort (unless a bunch of massive breakthroughs suddenly turn up).
I think that’s enough to be honest because reality exists only when we look at it.
… plans emerged last week when the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD) published guidance for High Assurance Cryptographic Equipment (HACE) – devices that send and/or receive sensitive information – that calls for disallowing the cryptographic algorithms SHA-256, RSA, ECDSA and ECDH, among others, by the end of this decade.
With regard to the algorithms used to hash data – particularly SHA-224 and SHA-256 – Buchanan expressed surprise that neither will be approved for use beyond 2030.
“The migration within five years will not be easy, as every single web connection currently uses ECDH and RSA/ECDSA,” he wrote. “These methods are also used for many other parts of a secure infrastructure.”
Looks like we could be in for interesting times.
