We live in an transistional world of digital trust. Why intermediate? Well, the core of the trust on the Internet is built around public-key encryption, and the core of this is at risk. Every time you connect to a Web site or create a secure connection, it is likely that public key encryption is defining the core trust of the connection and its security. For this we have a secret key (the private key) and a public key. The secret key is used to digital sign things and the public key is used to prove this signing, and link to the entity that signed it. While AES encryption may be doing the actual encryption of a secure connection, it is public-key encryption that is likely to be doing the key exchange and in checking the identity of the server.
But, what’s the problem? Well, quantum computers are able to crack our existing public key methods, including RSA, ECC and discrete log methods (eg Diffie Hellman key exchange). And so we need to find new methods to replace these, otherwise, our Internet will completely fail.
To plan towards the end of our public key methods, NIST has been assessing a range of techniques that cannot be cracked by quantum computers. These include lattice encryption (based on learning with errors), isogenies, Oil and Vinegar, and coding-based methods. While each has strengths and weaknesses, it is lattice encryption that leads the way in terms…
