3 ms·

I wouldn't be so certain it's not happening "anytime soon". They speculated about one way to break it. There could be several ways of using QC to break EC. Wh

I wouldn't be so certain it's not happening "anytime soon". They speculated about one way to break it. There could be several ways of using QC to break EC. What is the chance that at least one of those other ways require, say only 1,000 qubits? Oops, it's a two year time frame now. It might be a small chance, but I don't think we can discard it. Better plan for the worse.

dane-pgp 5y ago
It would be nice to have a probability distribution over how quickly quantum computers could reach the necessary level, using this paper as just one datapoint and looking at other examples of cryptographic breakthroughs and technological capability curves. By combining such a probability distribution with an estimate of how much damage could be done (or how much profit could be generated) by an enemy breaking elliptic curve encryption, it would then be possible to give a reasoned guess for how much to spend on bringing forward quantum-resistant cryptography.
upofadown 5y ago
>What is the chance that at least one of those other ways require, say only 1,000 qubits? A thousand physical qubits with current error rates? Pretty much impossible would be my guess.