Quantum Computing to Spark ‘Cybersecurity Armageddon,’ IBM Says (2024)

FAQs

Quantum Computing to Spark ‘Cybersecurity Armageddon,’ IBM Says? ›

Quantum computing to spark 'cybersecurity Armageddon,' IBM says. Governments and businesses are not prepared for the havoc quantum computers will sow in cybersecurity by the end of the decade, according to an International Business Machines Corp. executive.

Quantum computers make most of the world's existing encryption algorithms obsolete. IBM developed many of the foundational technologies that will secure the world in the quantum era, and now offers the tools and services needed to implement them.

If or when powerful quantum computing arrives, it poses a large security threat. Because the process of adopting new standards can take years, it is wise to begin planning for quantum-resistant cryptography now.

Quantum cryptography is a system that is completely secure against being compromised without the knowledge of the message sender or the receiver. That is, it is impossible to copy or view data encoded in a quantum state without alerting the sender or receiver.

In 2022, IBM set a world record with a 433-qubit quantum chip, but experts predict we'll need a lot more qubits before quantum computers can make good on their promise.

In recent times, China has gained the advantage in terms of quantum research. Although some in scientific and political circles dismiss China's recent progress, there is growing concern over China's quantum domination. The US is especially worried about recent news of China's quantum computing developments.

1. International Business Machines Corporation (IBM)

Compared with standard computers, quantum computers are extremely susceptible to noise. The quantum state of qubits is extremely fragile and any disturbance, such as a slight vibration or a change in temperature, can uncontrollably affect the computer, causing information stored to be lost.

Researchers typically estimate that it will be many years until quantum computers can crack cryptographic keys—the strings of characters used in an encryption algorithm to protect data—faster than ordinary computers.

Quantum computers are getting ever more powerful, but their fundamental building blocks – quantum bits, or qubits – are highly error prone, limiting their widespread use.

How long would it take a quantum computer to crack encryption? ›

A 256-bit encryption is considered to be highly secure and it would take classical computers millions of years to crack it. However, quantum computers could potentially crack this level of encryption in mere seconds or minutes.

According to researchers at the University of Sussex, a quantum computer with 1.9 billion qubits of processing power would be needed to break into the Bitcoin network within 10 minutes. This would require hackers to deploy millions of quantum computers, a scenario that is highly unlikely for the foreseeable future.

As such, quantum computers have the potential to render current encryption methods vulnerable to attack, compromising the security of sensitive data. Thus, the threat becomes real when more powerful quantum computers are developed in the future, which could defeat commonly used encryption systems.

These are just a few of the possibilities that may be enabled by quantum computing, which harnesses the laws of physics to perform calculations much faster than even the most powerful traditional computers. They all hinge on research here in the United States, the world's undisputed leader in quantum computing.

Researchers using Nvidia hardware are working toward the development of a quantum annealing system. Nvidia's vast experience with GPUs in both the gaming and artificial intelligence sectors puts it in a unique position for its technology to be used in quantum computing research via supercomputer simulations.

Theorists believe your brain might contain 100 billion quantum bits, which would make your own brain more powerful than all the digital computers in the world combined.

IBM quantum computers—the most popular and powerful quantum hardware in the world—help you build programs that solve problems in new ways.

The current field of quantum computers isn't quite ready for prime time: McKinsey has estimated that 5,000 quantum computers will be operational by 2030 but that the hardware and software necessary for handling the most complex problems won't be available until 2035 or later.

We are rather close to a “real” quantum computer in terms of hardware, as several companies have already demonstrated working quantum computers with dozens of qubits. The main problem is not hardware, but the SOFTWARE.