MIT’s New 5-Atom Quantum Computer Could Make Today’s Encryption Obsolete

Cryptogon ^ | March 6, 2016

[ctdonath2]

I never said never.

Just implied not right now.

They’ve got 5 to “crack” a 4-bit key, we’d need thousands (go research the relevant crypto discussions via Google) to crack 256-bit encryption in a sane amount of time.

As a kid, Dad kept a 32-bit core memory board in a drawer. It was pretty neat at the time.
Right now, I’m writing this on a computer that stores 4,096,000,000,000,000 bits in the same space & price.
I expect a similar increase in qbit availability & density in no longer than the same time frame, if not a whole lot sooner.
The biggest problem we’ll face with computing technology 40 years hence is figuring out what to _do_ with all that mind-boggling capacity. We’re just coming to grips with the possibility that we might actually crack large-key encryption in a matter of _minutes_; what else could be done with an order of magnitude of orders of magnitude more qbits? I remember looking at a Cray 2 (in person) and wondering what could happen if we threw all that power at a user interface; today, I’ve got that in my pocket and colloquially call it a “phone”.
Get yer shades. The future is gonna be bright.

[Kommodor]

Are there any problems an enormous amount of money can’t solve?

[aquila48]

“...but quantum computing relies on atomic-scale units, or “qubits,” that can be simultaneously 0 and 1—a state known as a superposition that’s far more efficient.”

What the hell does that mean?

Does anybody here have any clue as to what that article says?

The only thing that I could get out of it is that a quantum computer can factor the number 15 with a 99% confidence. And I’m supposed to be impressed?

I can do it in my head with 100% confidence.