Quantum computing: it will affect cryptography, but not for a while
A highly recommendable Reuters article, “U.S. and China race to shield secrets from quantum computers”, explores the mounting competition between China and the United States to start using quantum computing to break cryptographic encryption systems, and conversely how to protect their own information systems.
The article and the accompanying infographic are in open access and go a little beyond the simplicity of arguments along the lines of: “as soon as quantum computers arrive, cryptography will be useless and we will be able to access all information”. In reality, so-called quantum cryptography is neither as simple nor as immediate as some would like to claim, and should not be reduced to some kind of force with unlimited power. The advance of technology already points to post-quantum computing models capable of resisting such developments (which, on the other hand, are still far from stable or able to be used routinely).
We should remember that this is a discipline about which its best-known proponent, Richard Feynman, went so far as to say “I think I can safely say that no one understands quantum mechanics”, a statement that is probably still true today, thirty-six years after his death. Of course, we will see advances in this field, and times like the present when superpowers are trying to access…
