Slashdot reader storagedude writes: A quantum laptop able to breaking public-key encryption is probably going years away. Sadly, so are merchandise that help post-quantum cryptography.
That is the conclusion of an eSecurity Planet article by Henry Newman. With the second spherical of NIST’s post-quantum algorithm evaluations — introduced final week — anticipated to take “a number of years” and the FIPS product validation course of backed up, Newman notes that will probably be a while earlier than merchandise based mostly on post-quantum requirements change into obtainable.
“The delay in creating quantum-resistant algorithms is very troubling given the time it can take to get these merchandise to market,” Newman writes. “It typically takes 4 to 6 years with a brand new customary for a vendor to develop an ASIC to implement the usual, and it then takes time for the seller to get the product validated, which appears to be taking a troubling period of time.
“I’m not positive that NIST is as much as the twin problem of getting the algorithms out and merchandise validated in order that distributors can have merchandise which are obtainable earlier than quantum computer systems can break present expertise. There’s a race between quantum expertise and NIST vetting algorithms, and in the mean time the end result is wanting worrisome.”
And as encrypted knowledge stolen now will be decrypted later, the potential for “harvest now, decrypt later” assaults “is a quantum computing safety drawback that is already right here.”
