Quantum Computing Puts Encrypted Messages at Risk

[R. A. Hettinga]

http://www.ecommercetimes.com/perl/printer/18490/

NewsFactor Network
Technology's Home Page

Quantum Computing Puts Encrypted Messages at Risk

By Tim McDonald
www.NewsFactor.com,
Part of the NewsFactor Network
July 08, 2002
http://www.newsfactor.com/perl/story/18490.html
Given that quantum computers will provide an enormous power boost,
encryption experts believe that current standards for encryption, which are
based on computational difficulty, will then fall.
In the world of quantum computing and encryption, the question of which
will come first, quantum computing or quantum encryption, is very important.

In fact, it is vital.

If quantum computing comes first, chaos will reign, since most of security
systems installed by the world's vital institutions, including banking,
commerce and government, have come to depend on current encryption methods
-- which would instantly become archaic.

The boost in computing power offered by quantum computing would make many
of the encryption security measures now in place obsolete.

If advances in quantum encryption come first, quantum computers will be
capable of performing lightning-fast mathematical calculations, and there
is little doubt that many of today's mathematical obstacles will be easily
solved.

The problem is that some of those obstacles are the basis for today's
encryption technology.

 Being Difficult

Current encryption standards, including the Data Encryption Standard (DES),
which is now largely being replaced by the Advanced Encryption Standard
(AES), are based on computational difficulty.

The idea is not that the codes are impossible to break; it is that they are
impossible to break within a reasonble time, given today's resources. It
would take millions of years of computer processing time to decrypt most
messages sent via encyption, given the computing power now available.

However, once the enormous energy boost that quantum computers are expected
to provide hits the street, most encryption security standards -- and any
other standard based on computational difficulty -- will fall, experts
believe.

Breaking and Entering

The problem is that if a powerful quantum computer were to spring into
being tomorrow, all the assumed, unproven mathematical formulas that on
which encryption depends could be broken.

And it is easy to see the problems that would create, as encrypted messages
sent by critical instituions such as banks and government agencies become
easy to decipher.

"Now we have the challenge of turning quantum computation into an
engineering reality," Isaac Chuang, former IBM researcher and now an MIT
professor, told NewsFactor.

"If we could perform this calculation at much larger scales -- say the
thousands of qubits required to factor very large numbers -- fundamental
changes would be needed in cryptography implementations."

Knock, Knock

Classical cryptography already is becoming increasingly vulnerable to
eavesdroppers.

Take for example, the RSA algorithm, used in classic cryptosystems to
ensure that no one but the intended recipient is able to decipher the
message.

In a recent academic paper, University of Illinois-Chicago associate
professor of mathematics Daniel Bernstein detailed a more efficient method
of factoring large numbers that may put the RSA algorithm at risk.

Bernstein's method would make it possible, he said, to fairly quickly
factor public encryption keys as large as 1,024 bits derived from the RSA
algorithm.

Many of the security protocols currently in place routinely use keys much
smaller than 1,024 bits, but some experts now are saying they consider keys
as large as 1,024 bits to be compromised by new mathematical computing
capabilities.

Already in Use

Quantum encryption to the rescue.

Most people assume that the technology -- perhaps due to its cryptic name
-- is one of those odd, far-out sciences that theorists love to love but
which will have no practical application in the foreseeable future.

Others are betting that quantum encryption will save the day for security
applications.

"Between the intrinsic weaknesses of classic cryptography and the advanced
research and development -- both commercial and academic -- that is being
conducted around the globe, quantum encryption will be a widespread
security tool sooner than you may think," Andy Hammond, a spokesperson for
quantum information processing (QIP) company MagiQ Technologies, told
NewsFactor.

"The need for a product that provides perfect encryption is obvious," he added.

Even as these questions are being asked, companies are evaluating and
beginning to deploy quantum encryption as a security tool. It is already
being used in some military and intelligence applications, and private
concerns are scrambling to get in on the quantum ground floor.

Coming Soon

Hammond said that his company, scheduled for a public launch this
September, will have a "commercially available solution" in 2003. The
Somerville, Massachusetts-based company is developing a prototype quantum
cryptographic device that can be used on telecom fiber and is immune to
eavesdropping, or so the company claims.

The device is also "future-proof" because, according to MagiQ Technologies,
it is invulnerable to advances in algorithms and computing technology.

"From our perspective, the early adopters are ready to 'belly up to the
bar,' given the intrinsic weaknesses in classic cryptography," Hammond
said. "The ball is in our court to meet very demanding customer
requirements in both the public and the private sectors."

-- 
-----------------
R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah at ibuc.com>
The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/>
44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
"... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
[predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to
experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'

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