Quantum computing becomes a national-security problem
Shor's 1994 factoring algorithm pulled quantum computing out of academic labs and into the world of national security and intelligence. A quantum processor scaled to several thousand logical qubits could break RSA and elliptic curve cryptography, the systems that secure internet communications and underpin Bitcoin's blockchain. Some threat actors are already hoarding encrypted data today, betting they can decrypt it once a fault-tolerant quantum computer exists. The hosts note the real risk sits somewhere between media panic and complacency: old encryption algorithms left in place too long are a genuine problem, but the timeline to decrypt them is not as immediate as headlines suggest.
- Before Shor's paper, quantum computing research was concentrated at institutions like IBM Yorktown Heights, Oxford, Los Alamos, and Bell Labs, as well as university physics and computer science departments.
- Krishna specifically names RSA and elliptic curve cryptography as the encryption standards a large-scale quantum computer would threaten.
- The hosts use the word 'hoarders' to describe the strategy of stockpiling encrypted data now to decrypt later, comparing it to the HGTV show of the same name.
Transcript
This chapter, from the episode video's captions · 494 words
1:55:42because of the structure of the problem, they appro they they fundamentally approach it in different ways. Exactly. >> And so there's implications and derivative effects. >> Yeah. You can map like you can map certain problems to database search, right? >> And then be like, oh, just apply Grover's algorithm, right? Uh I don't know if there's a lot that you can map to Shor's algorithm, but you don't need mapping to understand why Shores is good. Right. Right. Sure is just like look literally anyone in cryptography CIA NSA FBI China France >> any intelligence community is going to is going to want to >> have their access to something that can do shores.
1:56:22>> World we world wars have been lost over not being able to encrypt your communications >> 100%. >> And so from the you know like that is the >> Yeah, exactly. And like prior to Shor's 1994 factoring paper, quantum computing research was like confined to like academic communities, IBM, Yorktown Heights, Oxford, Los Alamos, Bell Labs, physics departments, computer science departments. Shor's algorithm altered that dynamic, right? Cuz now it introduced national security, cryptography. Um, if you have an operation quantum proc operational quantum processor that could scale to several thousand logical cubits, now any
1:57:03encrypted communication that relies on RSA, the elliptic curve cryptography that is the bedrock of Bitcoin's blockchain, you can now decrypt it. I can steal all your Bitcoin. Um there's like dude it's it's kind of scary because like I've been reading there's there's um I don't know what you want to call them cyber uh cyber punk cyber gangs cyber terrorists even that are just like downloading data. >> Mhm. >> So that one day when there's a you know they're just waiting for one day there's going to be a fall tolerant quantum computer and then I can just decrypt it >> there. It's that HGTV show or whatever Lifetime TV show hoarders.
1:57:45>> Oh >> right. like they just take what right and this is this is such I just briefly want to note that this is kind of like the >> the scare tactic that in the media context is thrown around a lot. It's like oh well like everything that you think is secure now like don't put anything on the internet because as soon as you have >> something that breaks this encryption then all of your stuff is accessible and it again like most things somewhere in the middle. It's somewhere in the middle because like yes, if you rely on the old algorithms for too long and then um a fall tolerant quantum computer comes in, >> it's it's going to be an issue. On the
1:58:26other hand, like there's concerns about like >> there's people that calculate how long is it going to take? Even okay, it's fine. It's not going to take the age of the universe, but for certain hardware
From How Quantum Computing Actually Works (Part 1)
Part I of our quantum computing deep dive traces the field from Bell and Feynman to Deutsch and Shor—and explains what quantum computers actually do differently from classical machines.