22 Bit Military Grade Decryption Using DWave Systems Quantum Computers
A paper by Chinese researchers, “Quantum Annealing Public Key Cryptographic Attack Algorithm Based on D-Wave Advantage”, described how D-Wave’s machines can optimize problem-solving in ways that made it possible to decode tiny version of a military grade public key cryptography.
Wang Chao from Shanghai University, used a D-Wave machine to attack Substitution-Permutation Network (SPN) structured algorithms that perform a series of mathematical operations to encrypt info. SPN techniques are at the heart of the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) – one of the most widely used encryption standards.
The techniques used were applied to a 22-bit key but usually 2048 to 4096 bit keys are used. Breaking the longer keys is many billion trillions of times more difficult.
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