Quantum computer cracks ‘military-grade’ encryption

A team of scientists in China has reportedly launched the world’s first “effective” quantum attack on a classical encryption method.

The attack was carried out using an off-the-shelf quantum computer from Canada’s D-Wave Systems, according to a report from the South China Morning Post.

The scientists were able to successfully breach cryptographic algorithms widely used in critical sectors such as banking and the military, warning that the breakthrough posed a “real and substantial threat.”

Led by Wang Chao of Shanghai University, the researchers said they attacked Substitution-Permutation Network (SPN) algorithms such as Present, Gift-64, and Rectangle.

SPN algorithms are at the heart of the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), with AES-256 sometimes described as military-grade encryption and is considered to be quantum-resistant.

The exact details behind the method used to attack the encryption remain ambiguous, and Wang refused to elaborate further to the South China Morning Post due to the “sensitivity” of the topic.

The researchers warned, however, that cracking the code was closer than ever before.

“This is the first time that a real quantum computer has posed a real and substantial threat to multiple full-scale SPN structured algorithms in use today,” they said in a peer-reviewed paper published in the Mandarin-language Chinese Journal of Computers.

D-Wave Systems claims to be the world’s first commercial supplier of quantum computers. The company counts Lockheed Martin, NASA, and Google among its early clients.

Many of the existing general-purpose quantum systems are not considered advanced enough to pose a threat to modern cryptology, and “useful” quantum machines may still be several years away.

Quantum computers can solve problems that are too sophisticated for regular computers and could eventually be capable of cracking most public key algorithms. This has prompted efforts to “quantum-proof” cryptography.

Earlier this year, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) released the final set of principal encryption algorithms designed to withstand future quantum computer-generated cyberattacks.