How will Quantum computing likely impact cryptography?

The statement that public key encryption will be broken reflects a significant concern in the field of cryptography with the advent of quantum computing. Quantum computers have the potential to perform certain types of calculations much more efficiently than classical computers. This increased computational power enables them to solve problems that form the basis of widely-used public key cryptographic systems, such as RSA and ECC.

Public key encryption relies on mathematical problems that are difficult to solve with current classical computing methods, specifically the factorization of large integers and the discrete logarithm problem. However, quantum computers can leverage algorithms like Shor’s algorithm, which can effectively break these cryptographic methods by factoring large numbers or solving discrete logarithm problems in polynomial time. As a result, the security of public key systems—which assume that these problems are intractable for classical computers—would be significantly compromised.

In light of this, the potential for quantum computing to undermine the foundational security of public key cryptography has led to increased research in post-quantum cryptography, which aims to develop encryption methods that can resist attacks from both classical and quantum computers.