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Chinese researchers claim to have executed what they are calling the first successful quantum attack on widely used encryption algorithms, posing a “real and substantial threat.”
In their paper titled “Quantum Annealing Public Key Cryptographic Attack Algorithm Based on D-Wave Advantage,” the research team from Shanghai University reportedly used a D-Wave quantum computer to optimize problem-solving methods, which helped them to propose an algorithm that could be used to come up with an attack on public key cryptography.
In the work led by Wang Chao, the South China Morning Post states that the team said it used a quantum computer produced by Canada’s D-Wave Systems to successfully breach cryptographic algorithms.
The scientists state in the peer-reviewed paper: “The learning algorithm is better than the current various quantum computing methods in terms of RSA cryptographic attacks.”
The RSA algorithm (Rivest-Shamir-Adleman) in this instance, is the basis of a cryptosystem, which is a collection of cryptographic algorithms designed for specific security services or purposes. It enables public key encryption and is widely employed to secure sensitive data, especially when transmitted over insecure networks.
ReadWrite understands that the researchers successfully used a D-Wave machine to attack the Present, Gift-64, and Rectangle algorithms, all of which are representative of the Substitution-Permutation Network (SPN) structure. This structure forms part of the foundation for the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), which is widely used in military and financial applications.
SCMP reports the team saying: “This is the first time that a real quantum computer has posed a real and substantial threat to multiple full-scale SPN structured algorithms in use today.”
They conclude that the method can be used to evaluate other public key cryptography and symmetric cryptographic systems.
Some tech specialists have raised concerns over the development. Users wrote on X that if the analysis is correct, “online security could collapse entirely within a few years.”
Did not see this coming.
We thought the D-Wave quantum annealer was not useful for cracking encryption as it's a specialized processor for discrete optimization problems.China enters the chat: https://t.co/pGoKc8ZZnT https://t.co/X3Sa6r2F6Q pic.twitter.com/Mipbb9QEtf
— Steve Jurvetson (@FutureJurvetson) October 13, 2024
If this gets verified, (1) it risks being really quite embarrassing for Canada handing over the tech, but (2) it suggests that online security could collapse entirely within a few years, which feels like a risk we’re not paying nearly enough attention to https://t.co/kvMosEpEt1
— James Ball (@jamesrbuk) October 13, 2024
What companies use D-Wave?
The D-Wave Advantage system, which is a quantum computer, is housed at the USC-Lockheed Martin Quantum Computing Center to test fighter jet control software. It has also collaborated with Google, showcasing a computational performance advantage to over three million times that of corresponding classical methods.
In 2009, the tech giant announced that it is investigating the use of quantum computing schemes to achieve faster image recognition rates.
Featured image: Ideogram
