Security News > 2021 > September > NSA: We 'don't know when or even if' a quantum computer will ever be able to break today's public-key encryption

America's National Security Agency has published an FAQ about quantum cryptography, saying it does not know "When or even if" a quantum computer will ever exist to "Exploit" public-key cryptography.

In the document, titled Quantum Computing and Post-Quantum Cryptography FAQ, the NSA said it "Has to produce requirements today for systems that will be used for many decades in the future." With that in mind, the agency came up with some predictions [PDF] for the near future of quantum computing and their impact on encryption.

"NSA does not know when or even if a quantum computer of sufficient size and power to exploit public key cryptography will exist," it stated, which sounds fairly conclusive - though in 2014 the agency splurged $80m looking for a quantum computer that could smash current encryption in a program titled Owning the Net, so the candor of the paper's statements is perhaps open to debate.

Progress on quantum computers has been steadily made over the past few years, and while they may not ever replace our standard, classical computing, they are very effective at solving certain problems.

"Quantum computers alone do not crack public key cryptography," he said, adding that such a beast would need to execute an implementation of Shor's algorithm.

"Work on quantum resistant cryptographic algorithms is pushing forward based on the risk that 'Universal' quantum computers will eventually have enough stable qubits to eventually implement Shor's algorithm," continued Soroko.

News URL

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2021/09/01/nsa_quantum_computing_faq/