Friday, September 17, 2010

Kiss your encryption goodbye, folks!

Quantum computing may be only 5 years away.

A new photonic chip that works on light rather than electricity has been built by an international research team, paving the way for the production of ultra-fast quantum computers with capabilities far beyond today's devices.

Future quantum computers will, for example, be able to pull important information out of the biggest databases almost instantaneously. As the amount of electronic data stored worldwide grows exponentially, the technology will make it easier for people to search with precision for what they want.

...

The breakthrough, published today in the journal Science, means data can be processed according to the counterintuitive rules of quantum physics that allow individual subatomic particles to be in several places at the same time. This property will enable quantum computers to process information in quantities and at speeds far beyond conventional supercomputers.

Yas, and one of those things far beyond conventional computers is factoring large prime numbers  -instantly-.  Meaning all current encryption schemes will be obsolete.  Any true quantum computer will be able to blow through any existing password protected firewall, server, database, anything.

Fun eh?  You want to keep it secret, keep it off-line my friends.

The Phantom

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