Industry Expert Blogs

As technological advancements surge forward, the specter of quantum computing looms ever larger. While the promise of quantum computers holds the potential to revolutionize fields like weather forecasting, drug discovery, and fundamental physics, it also harbors a significant threat to our current cryptographic systems. The risk is not just a future concern; any sensitive data intercepted today could be stored and decrypted later when quantum computers become powerful enough. This "harvest now, decrypt later" strategy poses a severe risk to the confidentiality and integrity of our digital communications, medical records, financial transactions, and even national security.

The quantum algorithms: Grover's and Shor's

Quantum computers leverage the principles of quantum mechanics to perform certain types of calculations at unprecedented speeds. Two quantum algorithms pose a direct threat to today's deployed cryptography: Grover's algorithm and Shor's algorithm.

• Grover's algorithm: This algorithm can search an unsorted database quadratically faster than any classical algorithm. While it doesn't break cryptographic systems outright, it significantly reduces the security of symmetric key algorithms like AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) and SHA-2 (Secure Hash Algorithm 2), necessitating longer keys to maintain security.
• Shor's algorithm: This algorithm can factorize large integers exponentially faster than the best-known algorithms running on classical computers. This is particularly alarming for algorithms performing asymmetric cryptography like RSA (Rivest–Shamir–Adleman), ECC (Elliptic Curve Cryptography), and DSA (Digital Signature Algorithm), which rely on the difficulty of factorizing large numbers or solving discrete logarithm problems. A sufficiently powerful quantum computer running Shor's algorithm will break these cryptographic systems, rendering them obsolete.

Click here to read more ...