(Image by Pete Linforth from Pixabay)
Just what we needed now – another existential threat to civilization.
And this is one you probably never even considered.
The danger is from quantum computers, which are very different than computers produced in the past century.
Theoretically, they could become faster – incredibly times faster – than the electronics of today.
"That means that faced with an incredibly complex and time-consuming problem – like trying to decrypt data – where there are multiple permutations running into the billions, a normal computer would take many years to break those encryptions, if ever," reports BBC News. "But a future quantum computer, in theory, could do this in just seconds."
While such devices could help solve all kinds of problems, there is also a troubling dark side, something known as "the quantum apocalypse."
Right now there are many countries working hard on this in the netherworld of cyberspace – the U.S, China, Russia and the United Kingdom. Some are investing obscene amounts of money in developing super-fast quantum computers for strategic advantage.
Did you ever wonder about so much data is being "encrypted?" Crooks seem to access it – day by day, hour by hour. It's stored in data banks – just waiting for the time when data thieves' quantum computers are fast enough to decrypt it.
"Everything we do over the internet today," Harri Owen, chief strategy officer at the company PostQuantum, tells the BBC, "from buying things online, banking transactions, social media interactions, everything we do is encrypted. But once a functioning quantum computer appears that will be able to break that encryption ... it can almost instantly create the ability for whoever's developed it to clear bank accounts, to completely shut down government defense systems – Bitcoin wallets will be drained."
It's not a theory. It's a fact, says Ilyas Khan, chief executive of the Cambridge and Colorado-based company Quantinuum.
"Quantum computers will render useless most existing methods of encryption," he says. "They are a threat to our way of life."
Why hasn't the public been made aware of this threat?
Every day, we hear about scores of breaches that occur. It seems like there are more and more happening every moment.
Now it's become a cyber-space race to avoid the quantum apocalypse.
Mitigation efforts are already in training and have been for some years. For instance, all government data classified as "top secret" is already "post-quantum" – that is, using new forms of encryption which researchers hope will be quantum-proof.
"Tech giants like Google, Microsoft, Intel and IBM are working on solutions, as well as more specialist companies like Quantinuum and Post-Quantum," BBC reports.
"Most importantly, there is currently something of a post-quantum cryptography 'beauty parade' taking place at the U.S. National Institute for Science and Technology just outside Washington D.C. The aim is to establish a standardized defense strategy that will protect industry, government, academia and critical national infrastructure against the perils of the quantum apocalypse."
There is currently something of a post-quantum cryptography taking place at the U.S. National Institute for Science and Technology just outside Washington, D.C. The aim is to establish a standardized defense strategy that will protect industry, government, academia and critical national infrastructure against the perils of the quantum apocalypse.
But it's expensive – and labor-intensive. Plus, it generates a serious amount of heat.
"Developing quantum-safe algorithms is one of the major security challenges of our time," BBC noted.
Just thought you would like to know.
It's anybody's guess who wins.
Will it be Big Tech or the Chinese who gets there first? The Americans or British who solves the riddle? The Russians or criminals who cracks the code?
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