Time Running Out for Public Key Encryption

holy_calamity writes "Two research teams have independently made quantum computers that run the prime-number-factorising Shor's algorithm — a significant step towards breaking public key cryptography. Most of the article is sadly behind a pay-wall, but a blog post at the New Scientist site nicely explains how the algorithm works. From the blurb: 'The advent of quantum computers that can run a routine called Shor's algorithm could have profound consequences. It means the most dangerous threat posed by quantum computing - the ability to break the codes that protect our banking, business and e-commerce data - is now a step nearer reality. Adding to the worry is the fact that this feat has been performed by not one but two research groups, independently of each other. One team is led by Andrew White at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia, and the other by Chao-Yang Lu of the University of Science and Technology of China, in Hefei.'"

Comments

Not the end

[drabgah]

The quantum computer referenced in the summary managed the immense feat of finding the factors of the number 15. While it is true that factoring numbers of the magnitude used in cryptography is now a "matter of engineering", there are profound difficulties involved in scaling quantum computing. The fundamental problem is called "decoherence" and describes the tendency of quantum systems to become entangled with their environment, and the consequent loss of pure quantum states. The issues involved in quantum computation connect to deep issues of thermodynamics and entropy, and research on quantum computation has potentially great significance for fundamental physics. Cryptography may have to develop and implement new, extended standards as computational techniques evolve, but the encryption sky is not yet falling.