Computer security experts were struggling this week to assess a startling claim by Chinese researchers that they have found a way to break the most common form of online encryption
[the link may be paywalled] using the current generation of quantum computers, years before the technology was expected to pose a threat. Financial Times:
The method, outlined in a scientific paper [PDF] published in late December, could be used to break the RSA algorithm that underpins most online encryption using a quantum machine with only 372 qubits -- or quantum bits, a basic unit of quantum computing -- according to the claims from 24 researchers from a number of academic bodies and state laboratories. IBM has already said that its 433 qubit Osprey system, the most powerful quantum computer to have been publicly unveiled, will be made available to its customers early this year. If the research is correct, it will mark a significant moment in the history of computer security. He said it was a big claim. It would make it possible for governments to break other governments secrets. It would be one of the biggest secrets in computer science if it was true. The theory outlined in the research paper could not be applied in practice, according to other experts. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology scientist who helped spark a research boom in quantum computing said the paper isn't incorrect. Many experts think it will be a decade or more before the method requires machines with hundreds of thousands of qubits.
