Beyond encryption: why quantum calculations may be a more scientific boom than a cybersecurity bust
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Last August National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIS) released the first three “Encryption standards after Quant“Designed to withstand an attack from a quantum computer. For years, cryptography experts worry that the appearance of quantum calculations can suspend the doom for the traditional Encryption methodsS With the technology that is now firm on the horizon, the new Nist standards are the first meaningful step towards the defense after the quantum.
But Quantum Computing the encryption threat that has been made? Although it is true that quantum computers will be able to disrupt traditional encryption faster and easily, we are still far from the “no more secrets” box, presented in the 1992 movie. SneakersS With energy needs and computing power, they still limit the factors, those that have access to quantum computers are likely to consider putting the technology for better use elsewhere – such as science, pharmaceuticals and healthcare.
Do you remember the theory of the electronic microscope?
I spent a long time in digital forensics and gave me a unique perspective on the challenges of quantum calculations. In 1996, Peter Gutman published a white book “Secure Magnetic and Solid Memory data” that theorizes that the deleted data can be restored from a hard disk using an electron microscope. Is that possible? Maybe, in the end, the process would be incredibly laborious, resource and unreliable. More importantly, not long after, the hard drives store information in such a densely packed way that even an electron microscope has no hope of recovering the deleted data.
In fact, there is almost no evidence that such an electron microscope has ever been successfully used for this purpose and Modern testing confirms that the method is neither practical nor reliable. But fear was real-this led to the US Department of Defense (DOD), which issued its famous “7-profile” method of deleting data to eliminate any forensic evidence that the electric microscope could theoretically detect. Do we need to take such additional precautions with sensitive or classified data? Of course. But the threat was not as terrible as it was done anywhere. As for quantum calculations, we can go a similar way.
The practical reality of quantum calculations
First, it is important to understand how quantum calculations works. Despite the way movies like to depict hackers, this is not a magic wand that will immediately end cryptography as we know it. They will still have to eat individual messages and set the task of disrupting encryption – which means that the attackers will have to have a pretty good idea of which messages they contain valuable information. This may sound easy but more than 300 billion emails are sent daily, along with trillions of texts. There are ways to narrow the scope of demand but still requires attacker To throw a lot of computing power in the problem.
This leads me to the real problem: the computing power is not endless. Quantum Computing is on top of technology, which means your average script or children or Hacker He will not be able to deal with him. The only players who will have access to quantum computers (and the energy needed for their implementation) will be participants in nation -states and large corporations such as Google, Microsoft and AI companies. More simply, Quantum Computing will initially be expensive and not as quickly on the market as many have foreseen-and this means that nation-states will have so many computing power at their disposal. The question is then: Is the destruction of encryption protocols really what they plan to spend on?
True cases of use for quantum
The answer is strong … maybe. For me, the real advantages of Quantum are based on research, economic competition and global influence. This does not mean that quantum computers will not be placed to use cracking encryption if a hostile nation state gets hands on something they know is good-but this will not be the main way that technology is used. Look at it this way: if you are a foreign power with access to the most modern computer models on Earth, what would you use them for? Would you go to the pursuit of wild geese through millions of encrypted communications, or would you devote this critical time, energy and calculation to cure cancer, remove dementia, or create advanced new materials? For me, this is a non-brain. An individual striker may be after short-term profits, but nations will think longer.
Quantum Computing is likely to drive significant breakthroughs In the development of new materials and catalysts, which leads to the creation of stronger, easier composites for production and more reactive catalysts for chemical processes. This alone has the potential to revolutionize many industries, providing far more long-term profit for the nation with technology. Quantum Computing also showed a promise in the pharmaceutical industry, helping researchers develop more effective drugs and other treatments for part of the time. Technology is even used to improve Space Travel Possibilities By activating faster trajectory calculations, which makes navigation more accurate and optimizes the use of fuel.
It comes down to an analysis of costs and benefits. Only nation-states and large corporations will have access to quantum calculations soon and will they really consume their limited power encryption algorithms when they can increase their economic production and dominant financial markets instead? This does not mean that any case of use for quantum calculations is good – in the wrong hands it can certainly be used in dangerous ways. But with so much focus on the so -called “quantum apocalypse”, some believe it is outlined, the context matters.
Destruction of encryption in the list of cases of use for quantum calculations? Yes. But it’s not high on the list. So before we spend billions of dollars to tear and replace any cryptographic algorithm in use, it may be time to take a deep breath and think about how quantum calculations will actually be used.
Rob Lee is the head of research and the head of the faculty in SANS InstituteS
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