(ORDO NEWS) — Breaking today’s most complex encryption would take virtually forever, but experts warn that with the advent of quantum computers, this process could be reduced to a few seconds. Such technologies will lead humanity down a potentially dangerous path if they fall into the wrong hands, writes Futurism.
“Everything we do online today,” says Harry Owen, director of strategy at PostQuantum, “from online shopping and banking to social media interaction; everything we do is encrypted.” But quantum computers could allow attackers to “cleanse users’ bank accounts by completely disabling complex security systems,” warns Owen.
Ilyas Khan, chief executive of Quantinuum, agrees with his colleague and calls encryption-cracking quantum computers “a threat to our way of life.”
And while the quantum apocalypse is probably many years away (if it ever happens), governments around the world are already beginning to act to prevent the worst-case scenario from developing. For example, the US Department of Commerce recently blacklisted a number of Chinese firms, some of which were added due to their potential ability to break traditional encryption methods.
Researchers at tech giants like Google and Microsoft are hoping to get ahead of this trend by conducting quantum verification of important secret data. The US National Institute of Science and Technology also hopes to develop a unified strategy for protecting sensitive information, the source writes.
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