This article, like most things I’ve seen about quantum computing tech from ieee.org is a weird mish-mash of nonsense claims about entirely unrelated future tech

This article, like most things I’ve seen about quantum computing tech from ieee.org is a weird mish-mash of nonsense claims about entirely unrelated future technologies based entirely on assertions from a “quantum computing” consulting firm. Post-quantum crypto and quantum key distribution have nothing to do with each other, beyond the word “quantum” in their names. The article asserts post-quantum crypto algorithms might be vulnerable to quantum computing, merely based on the fact that you can’t prove they won’t be. But it doesn’t mention the fact that the actual threat to traditional public-key crypto from quantum computing is still decades away from being practical if it ever becomes so, and we know how that math would work. But quantum computers do actually exist. Sure, they can only factor numbers smaller than 25 and get exponentially more error-prone with every added qubit. But they exist. As for quantum key distribution, it’s entirely theoretical. It depends on inventing a technology for distributing entangled photons securely ahead of time. If it can be developed at all (and the crypto shill they quote claims “5 to 10 years” which is code for “we have no clue how to build this”), it amounts to a very very expensive one-time pad. OTPs are already “perfect” crypto, that can’t be broken by any computer... unless you attack the communication outside the bounds of the OTP. Steal the code book, or read the decrypted message, or just beat it out of the agent. QKD is no different, but it’s actually worse. Because the equipment would be unique and hyper-expensive, and because since the plaintext would be in a computer, it can then just as easily be surveilled, copied, or stored after decryption like any other plaintext. The discussion of the supposed combination of the two technologies is complete and utter nonsense. Sure, you could do that, but there are so many other, better, simpler, cheaper ways to be far more secure. This is all a great way to bilk governments out of their money, very little more.