Encryption has been a wonderful thing, but today’s encryption methods are rapidly nearing their expiration dates. Quantum computers, which are just starting to hit the market, promise to make existing encryption obsolete.
And a lot of work is underway today to create new, quantum-resistant encryption algorithms, John Prisco, president and CEO at Quantum Xchange, a Bethesda, Maryland-based quantum communication technology company.
Several candidates are currently being reviewed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology as possible standards, and according to him, it will take three to five years to sort out which ones are the most resistant to quantum computing.
But whatever researchers come up will not be exactly “quantum-proof,” he pointed out. “It would be better than our current keys, but there are no quantum-proof algorithms.”
