Quantum computing may still be some years from its breakthrough, but we should be preparing now for security in the post-quantum era
To understand quantum computing and quantum cryptography, one must have a grasp of topics such as Bell’s theorem, the superposition principle and Shor’s algorithm. If you are among the few who do, Wikipedia could use your help. At least, that’s the opinion of one unregistered user who left the following comment in the “Talk”-Section of Wikipedia’s article on quantum computing: “There’s an old saying about being able to explain something in simple terms. … If you can’t, you probably don’t understand the subject yourself. Cheers.”
If you already have decided you will never understand what this is all about, let us begin with a more practicable question: What is quantum computing good for?
There are probably many, many things quantum computers could be good for, once we can really start using them. Predicting the weather is one of them, perhaps. At the moment, the only thing we can be sure of is that quantum computing will help us factorize numbers.
IBM proved this in 2001. Big Blue, using an NMR type quantum computer, successfully factorized the number 15. Its factors were found to be 5 and 3.
What sounds like a pedestrian problem is giving an increasing number of scientists promising careers and has potential consequences that could challenge the integrity of our entire digital infrastructure.
To continue reading, visit dotmagazine: https://www.dotmagazine.online/issues/security/Quantumcomputing
