This week we covered cryptography and the many different kinds of it. Varying from asymmetric keys to Data Encryption Standard (DES) to ciphers, we definitely didn't see it all. But a good ground coverage of the endless world of cryptography. The book lightly touched on quantum computing and their usage in cryptography. I'm interested in exploring if these quantum ideas are in use today. To do that I looked through current news sources to see their opinion on the matter.
If you're unsure of how quantum computing works, see this video by Kurzgesagt explaining it concisely.
What I found out from these sources was that while quantum computers are amazing, they wonder what will happen once the hackers get them too. The US National Institute of Standards & Technology (NIST) now has post-quantum cryptographic standards in place. These standards state that companies need to phase out quantum-vulnerable systems as soon as possible. Companies aren't as concerned about quantum computers as they should be according to the writer Jaime Gomez Garcia.
The other article I read by IBM argues that we aren't quite there yet to cryptographically relevant quantum computing. But that we should still be aware! The article also argues the need to build quantum-secure systems. IBM states that it will continue to work to be quantum safe by using the NIST standards created. Those four algorithms are, so far, unbroken back in 2022.
Despite our lack of a complete grasp on quantum computing as a society, these two articles argue that we need to be aware of it. Not just aware, but prepared for attacks. This isn't fear-mongering, quantum cryptography isn't something that's going to get all our information overnight. It'll still take some time, and the NIST has already developed methods of working against it. I just wanted to bring some awareness to the current state of things.
Articles Read:
- Crypto-Procrastination: Preparing for a Quantum Secure Economy, Today
- How a post-quantum approach to cryptography can help protect mainframe data