The danger extends not just to future breaches but to past ones: Troves of encrypted data harvested now and in coming years could, after Q-Day, be unlocked.
Current and former intelligence officials say that China and potentially other rivals are most likely already working to find and store such troves of data in hopes of decoding them in the future.
Today, the most powerful quantum device uses 433 “qubits,” as the quantum equivalent of transistors are called.
That figure would probably need to reach into the tens of thousands, perhaps even the millions, before today’s encryption systems would fall.
But within the U.S. cybersecurity community, the threat is seen as real and urgent.
Persons:
”, Glenn S
Organizations:
National Security Agency, Homeland Security Department
Locations:
China, Russia, United States