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Malware In Quantum Computing?

MattSparkes writes, "Today's quantum computers are not sophisticated enough to do anything malicious to your online bank account; the field is in its infancy. However, there are in theory more ways to attack quantum computers than classical ones. As quantum networking takes off, this is going to become a larger and more immediate problem." The Wikipedia article correctly identifies as an unsolved problem in physics the question of whether it is possible to construct a practical computer that performs calculations on qubits.

20 of 91 comments (clear)

  1. Links by MyLongNickName · · Score: 2, Funny

    Anyone want to post the correct links?

    (must post anonymously so people don't figure out I RTFA)

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  2. Simple solution by neuro.slug · · Score: 2, Funny

    Just don't install Windows Vista XP Pro, which, ironically, requires a quantum computer to run.

    1. Re:Simple solution by Reverend528 · · Score: 2, Funny
      Just don't install Windows Vista Pro

      As long as you don't put all 32 qubits into a superposition, you'll be fine. Otherwise you may be forced to pay the licensing fee to run it on 4,294,967,296 CPUs.

  3. Obligatory: quantum virus... by fahrbot-bot · · Score: 3, Funny

    I'm a little uncertain, but I think that you can either know what's been infected, or how fast it's being infected, but not both...

    --
    It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
  4. Where there are worms... by LiquidCoooled · · Score: 2, Funny

    ...There are wormholes.
    These are normally found where there is an abundance of tachyon emissions.

    Make a sensor for those and we can remove the wormholes and finally get rid of the worms.

    QED

    --
    liqbase :: faster than paper
  5. Re:Quantum Malware vs Observation by Who235 · · Score: 3, Funny

    No.

    When your AV program detects it, it flies off and infects someone else's computer.

  6. blue sky speculation by Lurker2288 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Quantum malware will be a huge threat...as soon as we have the widespread adoption of quantum computers performing sensitive tasks. And people who understand how to program viruses for them. And quantum computers for the virus programmers.

    Is this really even a story? We may as well be worrying about where to buy reliable crossbows once the atomic wars destroy civilization.

  7. yes it is too early to think about it by Quadraginta · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I'd like to point out, vice Larry Niven, that when teleportation and faster-than-light drives are invented they will make new types of crime possible.

    Not only that, but when immortality becomes possible, just think of the new pressures on the Earth's resources. Yet I'm going to bet those irresponsible doctor and medical researcher types haven't thought at all about this as they try to cure cancer and so forth.

  8. Re:Quantum Malware vs Observation by Tackhead · · Score: 5, Funny
    > Does that mean by not looking at it it will cease to exist?

    No, that's Windows Quantum Advantage: If Redmond observes that your copy of Windows Quantum is not Genuine, a hammer will break a vial of cyanide inside your PC, and your cat will die.

    Quantum malware is what your dog installs to introduce sufficient uncertainty in Redmond's WQA check to ensure your cat's demise. (After all, when your cat's momentum is known to be precisely zero, it's gotta be somewhere around your PC.)

  9. A layman's take on this article by hellfire · · Score: 3, Insightful

    IANAPhysist. In fact, when the article began to spew forth quantum mechanics info, my eye began to develop a twitch and I started to drool.

    However, I am a self proclaimed computer geek. The main benefit of quantum computers, as I understand it, is an exponential leap in computing power and storage of such systems. If I understand correctly, a qubit can be altered by it's environment and change it's state, thus ruining it's data. I fail to see how this differs from computers today. Run a magnet over a hard drive enough times and good by data. Hard drives fail and lose data all the time, but we have sophisticated data checking algorythms designed to catch this kind of thing so that it doesn't get out of hand. It looks like they are doing something similar here.

    I don't understand how one creates a worm with this either. If you know qubit for qubit, what data you want to change, then perhaps, but that requires knowing the qubits ahead of time, doesn't it? Same way with bits today. People create worms due to vulnerabilities within the hardware and software that they can program in. I know of no viruses which rewrite data specifically on their knowledge of ones and zeros.

    Could a worm try to attack the physical nature of a quantum computer and run the data by physically attacking it? I don't know in quantum computers, but maybe that's what they are saying. The article is sufficiently arcane that it's difficult to see if it's just an attempt at fear mongering among us lessers, by saying "ooooo quantum computers are vulnerable to worms!" or if there is any real value to this article.

    A quantum to english translator is needed :)

    --

    "All great wisdom is contained in .signature files"

    1. Re:A layman's take on this article by geoffspear · · Score: 3, Funny

      The main problem is that it's really hard to catch the guys putting viruses on your computers when they're living in a parallel universe.

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  10. Windows Uncertainty Principle by Rufty · · Score: 3, Funny

    If I *know* it's got malware, I can't be sure if it's dead or alive...

    --
    Red to red, black to black. Switch it on, but stand well back.
  11. Quantum Norton Antivirus? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Actually, a quantum Norton Antivirus would be easy. Just write a quantum application that doesn't do anything.

  12. Future Quantum Nerd Problems by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    My pr0n-collection has wormholed itself to another dimension :(

  13. Re:Virus Destroys Universe by Mattwolf7 · · Score: 4, Funny

    You missed the memo, Firefox is immune to Zero Day exploits, but those pesky -1 Day exploits are another story...

  14. Re:Quantum Malware vs Observation by syntaxglitch · · Score: 4, Funny

    (After all, when your cat's momentum is known to be precisely zero, it's gotta be somewhere around your PC.)

    And if it's anything like my cat, it almost always will indeed have a momentum of precisely zero.

  15. A load of crap ? by Joebert · · Score: 2, Funny

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_superposition

    I kinda wondered how somthing can be in two positions at once, then I thought about how the water in a toilet spins in different directions on either side of the earth.

    So in a sense, we're basicly looking for a way to get smaller versions of us to flush their toilets when we want them to.
    I guess looking at it like that, malware in quantum computing would be the turds in our toilets that clog them up.

    We must ask the cats, as they have been observing the ways of traveling toilet water for years now.
    Wasn't it the Egyptians that held cats sacred ?
    Perhaps now we know the true reason.

    All hail the cats ! For they shall lead us to the quantum promised land !

    --
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  16. Re:Somewhat Offtopic by exp(pi*sqrt(163)) · · Score: 4, Informative

    What you need to learn about quantum computation is a function of what you know. If you know some mathematics, these are good: Kindergarten Quantum Mechanics and A Concise Introduction.... If you don't, I strongly suggest studying linear algebra, at least until you're 100% happy with tensor products of complex vector spaces, learning basic probability theory and then trying the second paper above.

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  17. Hacking quantum computers ought to be trivial by Junior+J.+Junior+III · · Score: 2, Funny

    Simply find a parallel universe in which the quantum computer has already been rooted, and use that system to launch DDOU (Distributed Denial of Universe) attacks against the un-compromised quantum-entangled systems residing in nearby parallel universes.

    How are you going to defend against that?

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    You see? You see? Your stupid minds! Stupid! Stupid!
  18. Re:Quantum Malware vs Observation by spun · · Score: 3, Funny

    And if it's anything like my cat, when you know its momentum is precisely zero, its location can be damn near anywhere including right under your foot where you were sure there was no cat a moment ago.

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