News Chinese scientists use quantum computers to crack military-grade encryption — quantum attack poses a "real and substantial threat" to RSA and AES

[Admin]

Chinese researchers claim to have uncovered a “real and substantial threat” to classical cryptography, which is widely used in banking and the military sectors.

Chinese scientists use quantum computers to crack military-grade encryption — quantum attack poses a "real and substantial threat" to RSA and AES : Read more

 

[Notton]

Quantum password cracking was long predicted and covered in many sci-fi stories.

On the bright side, there are only a handful of quantum computers, so you'll know who is behind any nefarious uses.

 

[Zforgetaboutit]

The title says they can crack passwords. The article says "almost, maybe".

It seems like the quantum-hype media machine is authoring this article.

 

[Sluggotg]

It seems a bit dicey. We get reports on a regular basis about how a Quantum Computer can do this or that but they never seem to pan out. It would be nice to see some actual demos. I think a lot of these reports are exaggerated a bit to try to get more investment into quantum computers.

 

[EzzyB]

It seems a bit dicey. We get reports on a regular basis about how a Quantum Computer can do this or that but they never seem to pan out. It would be nice to see some actual demos. I think a lot of these reports are exaggerated a bit to try to get more investment into quantum computers.

If and/or when government entities actually get this working, if they haven't already, you will hear absolutely nothing about it for as long as they can keep it secret.

It's an absolute brutal advantage.

 

[Dantte]

It worked in testing... once out of 1,000,000 attempts in a controlled environment and they cant repeat their success. I'm deliberately making up that example, but if I had to bet I'm not far off from the truth. Even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while.

 

[husker]

Also important to keep in mind is that the "quantum" computer used is not really a full-on generic quantum computer, which are still in the R&D phase. The computer used in this case is from a company call "D-Wave" which employs a specific method called "quantum annealing" to solve problems, which is defined by Wikipedia as "a general method for finding the global minimum of a function by a process using quantum fluctuations to solve optimization problems". The article doesn't mention if the results were obtained any faster than could be done using a classical computer. You may ask how a classical computer could perform "quantum annealing". Well as it turns out, the term "quantum annealing" was first proposed in 1988 as a quantum-inspired classical algorithm. My thought is that the research was done more to show a future potential path than actually cracking any encryption. I guess this kind of research would be needed, because writing the "code" for a quantum computer is much different than writing code for classical computers. The figuring out how to write the code may be the real accomplishment they are publishing about.

 

[Vanderlindemedia]

It seems a bit dicey. We get reports on a regular basis about how a Quantum Computer can do this or that but they never seem to pan out. It would be nice to see some actual demos. I think a lot of these reports are exaggerated a bit to try to get more investment into quantum computers.

Record-breaking quantum computer has more than 1000 qubits

Atom Computing has created the first quantum computer to surpass 1000 qubits, which could improve the accuracy of the machines

www.newscientist.com

1000 Cubits is actually very real to crack any ongoing encryption.

 

[das_stig]

Once AES-256 cracked a lot of equipment will be EOL as they are unable to be upgraded by design, which is probably good news for the OEMS etc who can sell you the next secure system until that is cracked but can only be fixed with a new purchase and repeat ...

 

[SuriMe]

Chinese researchers claim to have uncovered a “real and substantial threat” to classical cryptography, which is widely used in banking and the military sectors.

Chinese scientists use quantum computers to crack military-grade encryption — quantum attack poses a "real and substantial threat" to RSA and AES : Read more

The idea that quantum computers could crack military-grade encryption like RSA and AES is both fascinating and concerning – but also incredibly exciting. If true, this could be a total game-changer for cybersecurity, especially for sectors like banking and defence. While I'm still a little sceptical about how soon this can actually be done on a large scale, it's clear we need to start looking at quantum-resistant encryption methods ASAP – and it's an exciting time to be doing so!

 

[NinoPino]

<<Quoted post removed by moderator>>

This is a technical publication that describe methods and warn of possible danger for encryption security. I cannot see where is the propaganda in this.
Your comment is political without any reason to be so.

 

[Otto Levin]

The idea that quantum computers could crack military-grade encryption like RSA and AES is both fascinating and concerning – but also incredibly exciting. If true, this could be a total game-changer for cybersecurity, especially for sectors like banking and defence. While I'm still a little sceptical about how soon this can actually be done on a large scale, it's clear we need to start looking at quantum-resistant encryption methods ASAP – and it's an exciting time to be doing so!

This is both an alarming and intriguing development. Quantum computers have long been seen as a future threat to classical encryption, but if these claims are true, the future might be closer than we thought. While I agree with the excitement about the potential advancements in cybersecurity, it also highlights how critical it is for organizations, especially in banking and military sectors, to prioritize quantum-resistant encryption research now. It’s definitely a pivotal time in the evolution of cryptography.

 

[COLGeek]

Folks, please drop the political commentary. This isn't the place for that. Thank you.

 

[Flemkopf]

If and/or when government entities actually get this working, if they haven't already, you will hear absolutely nothing about it for as long as they can keep it secret.

It's an absolute brutal advantage.

That's the part that I'm trying to figure out about this. If you assume two geopolitical rivals with roughly equal levels of technology, then the big advantage during warfare is going to be intelligence information. Where are they producing materials, where are they gathering forces, what area are they targeting, what equipment are they bringing so you can counter accordingly?

Spying on your enemy's communication is critical for that information. It seems shortsighted to throw an unseen advantage like that away for what? Political points? Posturing? Reassuring or intimidating a discontented population?

If you want to make a statement, use it to crack into something more secure than questionably secured infrastructure and make sure to send an accompanying list of demands. Bragging about something like this just screams that you don't actually have it and are just really insecure.

 

[ottonis]

That was all very forseeable and is not a surprise at all. Quantum-resilient encryption methods are also well known and comprise e.g. lattice- and hash-based cryptography - among others.

 

[EzzyB]

That's the part that I'm trying to figure out about this. If you assume two geopolitical rivals with roughly equal levels of technology, then the big advantage during warfare is going to be intelligence information. Where are they producing materials, where are they gathering forces, what area are they targeting, what equipment are they bringing so you can counter accordingly?

Spying on your enemy's communication is critical for that information. It seems shortsighted to throw an unseen advantage like that away for what? Political points? Posturing? Reassuring or intimidating a discontented population?

If you want to make a statement, use it to crack into something more secure than questionably secured infrastructure and make sure to send an accompanying list of demands. Bragging about something like this just screams that you don't actually have it and are just really insecure.

Who knows. Possibly just a group of scientist outside the Chinese military industrial complex trying to draw attention and, much more importantly, funding to themselves. So not particularly sinister, just business as usual in academia.

 

[TheGTV]

If this is true it means the Chinese can do now what we could do a year and a half ago.

 

[TJ Hooker]

Record-breaking quantum computer has more than 1000 qubits

Atom Computing has created the first quantum computer to surpass 1000 qubits, which could improve the accuracy of the machines

www.newscientist.com

1000 Cubits is actually very real to crack any ongoing encryption.

No, current quantum computers, such as the one in the article you linked, are not a threat to current encryption (assuming you're using an appropriate key size).

 

[MLomonosov]

"... These algorithms, classed as substitution–permutation network (SPN) cryptographic algorithms, are at the heart of widely used standards like the Rivest-Shamir-Adleman (RSA)..."

Ah, no. There is no SPN in RSA.