China breaks quantum code barrier—sparking new concerns over data security
What's the story
In a major breakthrough in the field of quantum cryptology, Shanghai University Professor Wang Chao has factored a 90-bit RSA integer.
The achievement was possible using the D-Wave Advantage quantum computer, something that was previously thought impossible.
Quantum cryptology is the practice of writing or solving codes by taking advantage of principles of quantum mechanics in the subatomic world.
Quantum threat
Quantum computing: A potential threat to data security
With the rapid advancements in quantum cryptology, it is important to note that experts have been warning us about the risks associated with this technology.
They say we are moving closer to Q-Day - a hypothetical point when quantum computers could break even the most secure encryptions.
This would pose a major threat to personal privacy, data security, prompting scientists globally to develop countermeasures like post-quantum cryptography.
New records
Wang's team surpasses previous quantum cryptology benchmarks
Notably, Wang's team has already broken the previous quantum cryptology benchmarks established by researchers at Fujitsu, Lockheed Martin, and Purdue University.
They did this by creatively combining quantum annealing algorithms with classical cryptographic techniques.
To note, quantum annealing is a technique that employs quantum mechanics to find the minimum energy state of a system, which corresponds to the optimal solution of an optimization problem.
Quantum hurdles
Challenges in quantum computing and cryptography
A Beijing-based quantum computing expert emphasized two major challenges in the field: the absence of self-correction capabilities in existing quantum computers, rendering calculations error-prone, and a hardware-software mismatch.
Wang's team employed the D-Wave Advantage system with 5,760 qubits to convert the RSA factorization problem into a Closest Vector Problem (CVP).
They then employed multiple classical algorithms and the quantum tunneling effect of the annealing process to optimize the CVP solution for increased search efficiency.
Migration
Breakthrough may hasten the arrival of quantum threat
While the breakthrough made by Wang's team could hasten the quantum threat, experts have already been urging industries such as banking, blockchain, and government services to proactively adopt post-quantum cryptography.
A practice called "quantum migration" is already in place where advanced encryption techniques are being used to shield sensitive data from being decrypted decades later by future quantum machines.
Wang admitted this achievement isn't the end of RSA encryption.