Quo Vadis Qubit?

摘要

Imagine that in a few years from now a full-scale, practicalquantum computer hits the headlines. In this apocalypticscenario, the world of cryptography would be in a state ofshock, since almost everything that forms the foundations ofcurrent security would collapse. Indeed, the presence of aquantum computer would render state-of-the-art, public-keycryptography useless. All the underlying assumptions aboutthe intractability of mathematical problems that offerconfident levels of security today would no longer apply in thepresence of a quantum computer.But are we really doomed? Is cryptography dead? Well, luckilyno. This paper examines the technologies that will enablecrypto to survive the post-apocalyptic world of quantumcomputing. There are many things yet to be done to offer anenvironment as safe as current crypto does, but the tools arethere. It is now a game of engineering, pro-activestandardization and ingenious mathematics, while followinga careful development approach to pave a safe way throughthe qubits inferno.