No, Chinese Quantum Computers Have not Broken Military-Grade Encryption

Recent headlines claim Chinese researchers used D-Wave quantum computers to hack RSA, AES, and “military-grade encryption.” This is both true and misleading.

A May 2024 white paper in the Chinese Journal of Computers details how researchers used D-Wave’s quantum annealing to factor RSA-protected integers using Ising and QUBO models. The paper reports successful decryption of 50-bit RSA keys, explaining the process. However, there is no mention of AES or “military-grade” encryption.

What does this mean, and should you worry?

Short answer: No. But let’s break it down.

The Strength of RSA Encryption in Securing Online Data

RSA encryption secures daily internet activities (the “s” in “https://“) by using a pair of keys linked by a very large number. Cracking this number into prime factors is extremely hard without the private key. Most RSA encryption today is 2048-bit, exponentially harder to break than 50-bit—about 2^1998 times harder, which is a 1 followed by 601 zeros. For context, a 768-bit RSA key took two and a half years and hundreds of computers to crack in 2010.

The paper doesn’t mention AES, which is typically 128- or 256-bit in common use, and “military-grade” encryption generally refers to 256-bit AES, equivalent to 15,360-bit RSA.

While quantum computers hold immense potential, today’s quantum machines aren’t powerful enough to break modern encryption standards like 2048-bit RSA or 256-bit AES. Years from now, they may be—but not yet.

In summary, while D-Wave quantum computers did crack a 50-bit RSA key, so could any modern smartphone or even an old laptop. Quantum computers sound futuristic, but we’re just beginning to understand their capabilities.

Read Original Article: New Atlas

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