Post-quantum Security and Blockchain
For the seasoned, always a good reminder to take a step back and see the basics. For the new, a straightforward, quick read over quantum computing, cybersecurity, and blockchain. Because quantum is coming. Qubit.
What is post-quantum security and why does it matter to blockchain
Excerpts and salient points ~
+ In modern cryptography, there are two main types of encryption. Symmetric encryption and Asymmetric encryption. The first one requires a sender and a receiver to have identical digital keys to encrypt and decrypt data, whereas asymmetric — or public-key — encryption uses a publicly available key to let other people encrypt the message via the public key, where the private key for decrypting the message is kept secretly.
SperaX adopts a lattice-based cryptology mechanism to address the challenges that quantum computers may cause as a long term security solution for public blockchains.
+ Quantum computers could undermine these cryptographic defenses. It’s possible that in a little more than a decade — and perhaps even sooner — these machines could be a threat to widely used cryptography methods. That’s why researchers and security firms are racing to develop new approaches to cryptography that will be able to withstand future quantum attacks mounted by hackers.
+ Because they could help hackers work their way back through algorithmic trapdoors much faster. Unlike classical computers, which use bits that can be either 1s or 0s, quantum machines use qubits that can represent numerous possible states of 1 and 0 at the same time — a phenomenon known as superposition. They can also influence one another at a distance, thanks to a phenomenon known as entanglement.
Source: M. SperaX, What is post-quantum security and why does it matter to blockchain…
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