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I think this is a foreshadow of what's to come with quantum computers. While side channel attacks aren't directly related to quantum computing, they're of a si

I think this is a foreshadow of what's to come with quantum computers. While side channel attacks aren't directly related to quantum computing, they're of a similar character. Quantum computing will enable new kinds of analysis that aren't possible to do quickly right now, and exploits based on it will very likely take people by surprise in the same way that this one has... even those of us who saw it coming. It will be a weird, unsettling feeling when these classical cryptography algorithms, which everyone trusts so casually right now, start actually being compromised.

gizmo686 9y ago
Quantom computers are going to be much "slower" in terms of becoming a problem. We just had the public disclosure of Meltdown and Spectre, and I suspect that, with what is known publicly, a non trivial amount of CS undergrads would be able to successfully craft an exploit based on this. In contrast, even if we suddenly solved the engineering challanges of building a large quantum computer, it would likely take a while for the economics to work out where a quantum based attack would be economical. For one, for the foreseable future, quantom computers would be expensive (needing high cooling at a minimum), so a 'casual' attacker would need to wait for an economical rental type service to emerge. Also, it would take time to scale up production, so the first bunch of quantum computers will be expensive due to market pressures from big players. In reality, it is likely that quantom computers would see a gradual (even if exponential) rise in power that would give some idea of a timeline for when we have to adapt. Not to mention the research into replacing quatom vulnerable crypto with quantom resistent crypto for over a decade, and has already led to (seemingly) quantom resistent replacements.
- macawfish 9y ago
  This is an interesting perspective. It reminds me of waking up one day and watching a video of boston dynamics' atlas sticking a backflip. Yes, these things have been in development for decades, but there's something very startling about when you suddenly realize how much they've matured.
  - UncleMeat 9y ago
    Only because you aren't an expert and aren't aware of the state of the art in the field. Spookiness has no correlation with actual threat.
    - macawfish 9y ago
      Even for experts, classical and quantum computing both involve very complex engineering. There are inevitably going to be hurdles and growing pains. This moment feels like a growing pain... I'm imagining that the transition to quantum computing will come with growing pains of similar magnitude. It's like when you turn the hot water on and run it over your hand. At first it's cold, gradually it gets warmer and warmer, then there's a moment when you pull your hand out... the water is suddenly too hot, it's crossed a threshold.
  - jacquesm 9y ago
    > It reminds me of waking up one day and watching a video of boston dynamics' atlas sticking a backflip. Save you some googling in case you wanted to see that: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knoOXBLFQ-s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knoOXBLFQ-s
soberhoff 9y ago
What are you talking about? Without further details I'm under the impression that you're just invoking the mystery of quantum computing. "Anything I don't understand is a threat."
- Ajedi32 9y ago
  A practical quantum computer would be capable of breaking almost all modern public key cryptography. There's an entire field of research dedicated to figuring out what we'll replace those algorithms with if quantum computing does become practical on a significant scale: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-quantum_cryptography https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-quantum_cryptography
  - umanwizard 9y ago
    Specter and Meltdown have nothing to do with cryptography
    - has2k1 9y ago
      Most side-channel attacks have mainly been a threat to the implementation of cryptographic systems and algorithms. Now Specter and Meltdown have brought that concern to all systems. The gist of the parent post is, create complex systems and these things will bite.
- stcredzero 9y ago
  "Anything I don't understand is a threat." Yes. Something you don't know about can and may well kill you. These are the lessons of geography, astronomy, and physics. Crypto and computer security may well have the same properties.
- gizmo686 9y ago
  Much of modern crypto is based on the assumption that integer factorization and discrete logarithms are difficult problems. With quantum computers, this is known not to be the case.
deleted 9y ago
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fermienrico 9y ago
I am baffled. What does quantum computing have to do with the topic of this thread - Meltdown/Spectre attack? Please provide specific details as others have said - this comment just sounds like you just had something vaguely related to security that you wanted to mention.
- tlrobinson 9y ago
  macawfish speculated (pun intended) that "they're of a similar character" and I see his point. They're classes of attacks that are well known, have a huge impact, but still feel like they take us by surprise.

gizmo686 9y ago

Quantom computers are going to be much "slower" in terms of becoming a problem. We just had the public disclosure of Meltdown and Spectre, and I suspect that, with what is known publicly, a non trivial amount of CS undergrads would be able to successfully craft an exploit based on this. In contrast, even if we suddenly solved the engineering challanges of building a large quantum computer, it would likely take a while for the economics to work out where a quantum based attack would be economical. For one, for the foreseable future, quantom computers would be expensive (needing high cooling at a minimum), so a 'casual' attacker would need to wait for an economical rental type service to emerge. Also, it would take time to scale up production, so the first bunch of quantum computers will be expensive due to market pressures from big players. In reality, it is likely that quantom computers would see a gradual (even if exponential) rise in power that would give some idea of a timeline for when we have to adapt. Not to mention the research into replacing quatom vulnerable crypto with quantom resistent crypto for over a decade, and has already led to (seemingly) quantom resistent replacements.

macawfish 9y ago
This is an interesting perspective. It reminds me of waking up one day and watching a video of boston dynamics' atlas sticking a backflip. Yes, these things have been in development for decades, but there's something very startling about when you suddenly realize how much they've matured.
- UncleMeat 9y ago
  Only because you aren't an expert and aren't aware of the state of the art in the field. Spookiness has no correlation with actual threat.
  - macawfish 9y ago
    Even for experts, classical and quantum computing both involve very complex engineering. There are inevitably going to be hurdles and growing pains. This moment feels like a growing pain... I'm imagining that the transition to quantum computing will come with growing pains of similar magnitude. It's like when you turn the hot water on and run it over your hand. At first it's cold, gradually it gets warmer and warmer, then there's a moment when you pull your hand out... the water is suddenly too hot, it's crossed a threshold.
- jacquesm 9y ago
  > It reminds me of waking up one day and watching a video of boston dynamics' atlas sticking a backflip. Save you some googling in case you wanted to see that: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knoOXBLFQ-s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knoOXBLFQ-s

soberhoff 9y ago

What are you talking about? Without further details I'm under the impression that you're just invoking the mystery of quantum computing. "Anything I don't understand is a threat."

Ajedi32 9y ago
A practical quantum computer would be capable of breaking almost all modern public key cryptography. There's an entire field of research dedicated to figuring out what we'll replace those algorithms with if quantum computing does become practical on a significant scale: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-quantum_cryptography https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-quantum_cryptography
- umanwizard 9y ago
  Specter and Meltdown have nothing to do with cryptography
  - has2k1 9y ago
    Most side-channel attacks have mainly been a threat to the implementation of cryptographic systems and algorithms. Now Specter and Meltdown have brought that concern to all systems. The gist of the parent post is, create complex systems and these things will bite.
stcredzero 9y ago
"Anything I don't understand is a threat." Yes. Something you don't know about can and may well kill you. These are the lessons of geography, astronomy, and physics. Crypto and computer security may well have the same properties.
gizmo686 9y ago
Much of modern crypto is based on the assumption that integer factorization and discrete logarithms are difficult problems. With quantum computers, this is known not to be the case.

deleted 9y ago

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fermienrico 9y ago

I am baffled. What does quantum computing have to do with the topic of this thread - Meltdown/Spectre attack? Please provide specific details as others have said - this comment just sounds like you just had something vaguely related to security that you wanted to mention.

tlrobinson 9y ago
macawfish speculated (pun intended) that "they're of a similar character" and I see his point. They're classes of attacks that are well known, have a huge impact, but still feel like they take us by surprise.