Introduction to Quantum

Quantum computing is fundamentally different from the classical computers in circulation today. As we know, traditional computing is based on a bit, a binary state represented by 0 or 1, it must be one or the other. On the other hand, quantum computing is based on quantum state of a QBIT, that rather than being determined using a binary output, it calculates all possible positions and scenarios of an event while it still in its in-between state, or superposition state. The state of undefined outcome in quantum physics allows for computing power to drastically increase, as the binary possibility now becomes practically endless. Only once the event has occurred, or been observed, does the quantum state concludes and a binary outcome can be then noted. All the possibilities within the 3-dimensional sphere occurring before the binary observation is what the future of computing is relying on to develop the fifth generation of computers.

The quantum computing’s exponentially large processing power gives it, or will be able to give it, the ability to solve complex factoring large numbers and solving discrete logarithms on which all internet security relies on. Quantum computing relevance to encryption was made possible by Peter Shor, who in 1994 discovered a polynomial time algorithm for finding prime factors of large numbers on a quantum computer. Shor's algorithm is viewed as important because the difficulty of finding prime factors of large numbers (RSA algorithm) is relied upon for most cryptography systems of today. The second significant quantum algorithm is Grover’s algorithm which was brought forth by Lov Grover in 1996 in which superposition and phase interference are used to search through unstructured data. The physical concept applied to a qbit computing mechanism has the power to calculate the ECC algorithm. Together the Grover and Shor theoretical algorithm running on a qbit processing power can effectively render our current encryption schemes obsolete and compromise our infrastructures.

Given how vital public key trust models are to the security architecture of today’ Internet, it is imperative that we examine alternatives to the currently used public key cryptographic primitives. Since its invention, public key cryptography has evolved from a mathematical curiosity to an indispensable part of our IT infrastructure.