Summary: <p> </p> <p>How will quantum computing change the future of security? What does a quantum computer look like? Mike and Daniel sit down with Lee Barford to get some answers.</p> <p>Video Version:</p> <div class="jetpack-video-wrapper"></div> <p>Audio version</p> <audio class="wp-audio-shortcode" id="audio-1261-19" style="width: 100%;"><a href="https://eestalktech.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/cracking-rsa-and-quantum-bits.mp3">https://eestalktech.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/cracking-rsa-and-quantum-bits.mp3</a></audio> <p>Last time we looked at “<a href="http://eestalktech.com/2017/08/10/what-is-quantum-computing/">what is quantum computing</a>” and talked about quantum bits and storing data in superstates.</p> <p>00:40 Lee talks about how to crack RSA and Shor’s algorithm (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shor%27s_algorithm">wikipedia</a>)</p> <p>00:50 The history of quantum computing (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_computing">wiki</a>). The first person to propose it was Richard Feynman in the mid 1960s. There was some interest, but it died out.</p> <p>In the 1990s, Peter Shor published a paper pointing out that if you could build a quantum computer with certain operational properties (machine code instructions), then you could find one factor of a number no matter how long it is.</p> <p>Then, he outlined another number of things he would need, like a quantum <a href="https://community.keysight.com/community/keysight-blogs/oscilloscopes/blog/2017/06/06/fft-analysis-and-now-for-something-completely-different">Fast Fourier Transform</a> (FFT).</p> <p>Much of the security we use every day is both the RSA public key system and the Diffie Hellman Key Exchange algorithm.</p> <p>HTTPS connections use the <a href="https://security.stackexchange.com/questions/45963/diffie-hellman-key-exchange-in-plain-english">Diffie Hellman</a> Key Exchange algorithm. RSA stands for “<del>really secure algorithm</del>” “Rivest, Shamir, and Adelman.”</p> <p>4:00</p> <p>RSA only works if the recipients know each other, but Diffie Hellman works for people who don’t know each other but still want to communicate securely. This is useful because it’s not practical for everyone to have their own RSA keys.</p> <p>5:00</p> <p>Factoring numbers that are made up of large prime numbers is the basis for RSA. The processing power required for factoring is too large to be practical. People have been working on this for 2500 years.</p> <p>6:45</p> <p>Shor’s algorithm is theoretically fast enough to break RSA. If you could build a quantum computer with enough quantum bits and operate with a machine language cycle time that is reasonable (us or ms), then it would be possible to factor thousand bit numbers.</p> <p>7:50</p> <p>Famous professors and famous universities have a huge disparity of opinion as to when a quantum computer of that size could be built. Some say 5-10 years, others say up to 50.</p> <p>8:45</p> <p>What does a quantum computer look like? It’s easier to describe architecturally than physically. A quantum computer isn’t that much different from a classical computer, it’s simply a co-processor that has to co-exist with current forms of digital electronics.</p> <p>9:15</p> <p>If you look at Shor’s algorithm, there are a lot of familiar commands, like “if statements” and “for loops.” But, quantum gates, or quantum assembly language operations, are used in the quantum processor. (<a href="https://www.quantiki.org/wiki/quantum-gates">more about this</a>)</p> <p>10:00</p> <p>Lee thinks that because a quantum gate operates in time instead of space, the term “gate” isn’t a great name.</p> <p>10:30</p> <p>What quantum computers exist today? Some have</p>
