Extrapolating Quantum Factoring

https://www.johndcook.com/blog/2025/09/28/extrapolating-quantum-factoring/

#HackerNews #Extrapolating #Quantum #Factoring #QuantumComputing #QuantumPhysics #TechInnovation #HackerNews

@djb (Daniel J. Bernstein) tooted about a new blog post[1] he published. It's here:
https://blog.cr.yp.to/20250118-flight.html

It's interesting. He's a #mathematician and software guy that in more recent years has been known mostly for his work in #cryptography, #theoretical and #practical. You're probably using his #Curve25519 every day in your #communications.

I'm not a mathematician (by a long shot), but it's written in a pretty accessible manner - it's not #formulae and #turgid academic #prose.

The central point he's getting at, by my possibly-mistaken understanding of it, is that current "common sense" about when attacks against pre-quantum cryptography like #RSA (and therefore when post-quantum cryptography becomes critical) are badly mistaken - based on bad assumptions about how attacks work, how they're implemented, and on badly #extrapolating from those bad assumptions using logic that doesn't actually represent the way attacks are developed and become practical.

TL;DR is something along the lines of "#quantum cryptographic attacks against RSA will be practical sooner than most people think, and you should be deploying quantum-resistant cryptography now, not later".

It's worth reading if you're at all interested in #crypto and #security stuff.

He also mentions a project he's involved in that has been discussed separately, transparent post-quantum tunnelling for unmodified #server and #client #software. Link in post.

[1] Written more like a conference presentation, FWIW.