Mainstream encryption in use today may become vulnerable within years instead of decades after Chinese researchers proposed a new code-breaking algorithm to run on a small quantum computer built from technology already within reach.
But some senior security and quantum experts in the United States have raised concerns as well as doubts about that claim coming out of China.
Quantum computers can speed up the factoring of large numbers – a difficult task for traditional computers – to break codes in a relatively short period.
But it is commonly believed that such a machine would need to handle millions of qubits, the basic unit of quantum information, to hack a bank account protected by state-of-the-art encryption.
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