NSA Trying To Build Quantum Computer

New submitter sumoinsanity writes "The Washington Post has disclosed that the NSA is trying to build a quantum computer for use in cracking modern encryption. Their work is part of a research project into tackling the toughest equipment, which received $79.7 million in total funding. Another article makes the case that the NSA's quantum computing efforts are both disturbing and reassuring. The reassuring part is that public key infrastructure is still OK when done properly, since the NSA is still working so hard to defeat it. It's also highly unlikely that the NSA has achieved significant progress without outside awareness or help. More disturbing is that it may simply be a matter of time before it fails, and our private messages are out there for all to see."

Comments

One word

[Anonymous Coward]

Bitcoin mining.

Ok, 2 words.

Actually...

[i kan reed]

It's a tool to help them justify congress how they can be spying on all Americans and not spying on any Americans at the same time.

Re:Actually...

[i kan reed]

The main joke of my post here is that congress actually cares.

Re:Actually...

[Anonymous Coward]

This explains why there are cats on the internet.

Government of the peephole

[ciderbrew]

For the peephole by the peephole.

And they called me crazy

[lagomorpha2]

...and my colleagues called me crazy when I gave them 256GB USB drives full of true randomly generated one-time pads to use to decrypt my emails because I didn't trust public key.

Who's crazy now! Muhahaha! (posted from secret volcano lair)

Re:Comment is not flamebait, it's a physics pun

[nobuddy]

Not today. He was caught mass-modding people who disagree with him last night. All associated accounts were stripped of mod ability forever.

He will just make more, but he's dead in the water for a bit.

Re:Which part is most disturbing?

[amorsen]

The NSA is but a misunderstood genius, boldly sending their agent Edward Snowden into the arms of the enemy. Their aim is to protect the Western world from the defeat that will come as a result of ignored security vulnerabilities, lousy cryptography, people who are willing to work with corrupt government entities and so on.

See, no one would have listened if they had simply held lectures on proper security. Some might even do the opposite out of suspicion that the NSA is betraying them. The only way to fulfill their duty of keeping America safe was to send out a "whistleblower" to say all the things that they themselves could not get through with. Only then would the mass media react and the story gather enough momentum to cause every software developer to improve their work, every customer to demand better and more open security, every person to think twice when being asked to do things that are not right.

I wish.