September 6, 2022
ALEXANDRIA, Va. (Kratos/Constellations) — It’s only a matter of time before a quantum computer is developed with the number of physical qubits required to render current public key encryption obsolete.
The nightmare scenario of “Q-Day” is not the sci-fi fantasy it was in the early 1990s. The most cautious experts believe a quantum computer could be developed by 2025 that’s powerful enough to break a 2048-bit RSA key in a matter of hours—a feat that would take trillions of years for a conventional supercomputer. Most experts expect to reach a critical point in 15 years, according to the latest Quantum Threat Timeline Report.
“Some of the scary stories, unfortunately, those are real,” said Chune Yang Lum, CEO of SpeQtral, a Singapore-based company working on satellite-based quantum key distribution (QKD). That a large enough quantum computer will eventually break RSA encryption is “grounded in fact and in physics theory.”
SpeQtral’s recommendation: don’t wait. Governments, agencies and entities with very low cybersecurity risk tolerance should start thinking about migrating to quantum encryption sooner than later. For organizations with a global footprint, satellite-based QKD can assure essentially hack-proof communications.
“It’s inherently required and necessary to start thinking about being quantum secure,” Lum said. “So, think about how to start early, how to migrate and how to plan forward.”
Read the full article: https://www.kratosdefense.com/constellations/articles/satellites-are-key-to-global-quantum-safe-communication
