artymsSeveral days ago, Google published research on the potential impact of future quantum computers on...
Several days ago, Google published research on the potential impact of future quantum computers on cryptographic systems, including blockchain.
At first, it sounded distant - almost theoretical.
But after digging into more sources, I realized this is not science fiction anymore. The mathematics is already there.
That’s what pushed me to write a short article about it.
In brief, we may be heading toward a major shift. Once large-scale quantum computers become practical, they could break the asymmetric cryptography that underpins most of today’s internet including protocols like HTTPS.
I guess big tech should start transfering all user data to PQC(post quantum cryptography) so we will be ready for this.
But the problem is that too much data is already encrypted using current elliptic curves standard. So if someone right now is collecting any user data, he can then decrypt it all using QC.
And the last but not the least: cryptocurrencies. I think in the age of quantum computers the base idea that private zero trust technologies like blockchain may disappear, because the real problem is that all of this data could be collected right now and decrypted later...
If the underlying primitives become breakable,
the trust model itself may need to be rethought.
So the answer on the article question: Are Quantum Computers Dangerous for Modern Cryptography? - is definitely yes.
If you want to understand this problem a bit more here is the great article about this: https://frostwarn.substack.com/p/the-quantum-war-of-the-future-has