Shor's algorithm: the one quantum algo that ends RSA/ECC tomorrow
20 points
8 hours ago
| 2 comments
| blog.ellipticc.com
| HN
willtemperley
15 minutes ago
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The largest number factored by Shor's algorithm is 21.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integer_factorization_records

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fnands
2 hours ago
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*ends as soon as practical quantum computers, something which might never happen, exist.

The author mentions: > RSA-2048: ~4096 logical qubits, 20-30 million physical qubits > 256-bit ECC: ~2330 logical qubits, 12-15 million physical qubits

For reference, we are at ~100 physical qubits right now. There is a bit of nuance in the logical to physical correlation though.

Scepticism aside, the author does mention that it might be a while in the future, and it is probably smart to start switching to quantum resistant cryptography for long-running, critical systems, but I'm not a huge fan of the fear-mongering tone.

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brohee
1 hour ago
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And no clear quantum Moore law emerging for the yearly increase in qbits (https://arxiv.org/abs/2303.15547)... The quantum panic pushes people to deploy immature solutions, and the remedy sure sometimes looks worse than the illness...
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nottorp
2 hours ago
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You mean it will come right when AGI comes?
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LadyCailin
1 hour ago
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Fusion powered AGI!
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thrance
51 minutes ago
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...and 100, quite useless qubits too, with insane error rates and extremely fast decoherence times.
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