NSA and quantum computers

[Jim Bell]

http://news.yahoo.com/nsa-eyes-encryption-breaking-39-quantum-39-machine-225306575.html


Washington (AFP) - The US 
National Security Agency is making strides toward building a "quantum 
computer" that could break nearly any kind of encryption, The Washington Post reported Thursday.
Related Stories
	* The NSA Is Trying to Build a Quantum Computer The Atlantic Wire 
	* NSA leaker: 'Mission's already accomplished' Associated Press 
	* NSA, UK agency 'targeted Israel PM, EU officials' Associated Press 
	* Amnesty for Edward Snowden? Might depend on what secrets he's got left Christian Science Monitor 
	* Israel plays down importance of alleged spying by U.S. and UK Reuters  
The Post said 
leaked documents from fugitive ex-NSA contractor Edward Snowden indicate the computer would allow the secret intelligence agency to break 
encryption used to protect banking, medical, business and government 
records around the world.
Quantum computing has been a goal among commercial firms such as IBM because it could harness the power of atoms and molecules, vastly increasing speed and security of computers and other devices.
But experts cited by the newspaper said it was unlikely that the NSA would 
be close to creating such a machine without the scientific community 
being aware of it.
"It seems improbable that the NSA could be that far ahead of the open world without anybody knowing it," Scott Aaronson of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology told the daily.
The NSA declined to comment on the report.
The Post said the leaked documents indicate that the agency carries out 
research in large, shielded rooms known as Faraday cages designed to 
prevent electromagnetic energy from entering or exiting.
Because of its vast computing power, a working quantum computer would break the strongest encryption tools in use today for online activities, 
including banking and emails.
Some technology firms such as Google and Yahoo have said in recent weeks 
that they were stepping up efforts to encrypt their communications 
following reports that the NSA had been able to break or circumvent many of the current encryption standards.
A September report by The New York Times, ProPublica and The Guardian, 
also based on leaked documents, said US and British spy agencies are 
able to decipher data even with the supposedly secure encryption to make it private.
The documents 
indicated that the NSA, working with its British counterpart GCHQ, 
accomplished the feat by using supercomputers, court orders and some 
cooperation from technology companies. 
If the reports are accurate, the highly secretive program would defeat 
much of what is used to keep data secure and private on the Internet, 
from emails to chats to communications using smartphones.
IBM researchers said last year they had made advances in quantum computing 
that has the potential to outperform any existing supercomputer. 
The new type of computing uses information encoded into quantum bits or 
qubits, putting into use a theory that scientists have been discussing 
for decades. 
Quantum 
computing expands on the most basic piece of information that a typical 
computer understands -- a bit, and thereby can perform millions of 
calculations at once.
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