The Impact of Quantum Physics on Cryptography Standards The Impact of Quantum Physics on Cryptography Standards

Computers are used to process information. In understanding how a computer system is set up we can discover what information would be effectively processed, and what information would be ineffectively processed. The most basic level of a computer system is its logic gate level. At this level the computer only knows true or false. This information is carried by the most basic of computer structures, the bit. Ultimately, this is how modern computers process information – through a series of true and false signals carried by bits. Since each bit only contains one true or one false, it takes quite a number of bits to represent any sophisticated information. For instance, to represent a simple letter takes 8 bits. Current Cryptosystems Because of the current design of computer systems, some processes are very difficult for a computer to do efficiently. It is precisely these “weaknesses ” that current cryptography standards exploit when creating algorithms. Many cryptosystems today use large number factoring as part of their algorithm because it is very difficult for computers to solve such factorings. Quantum Computing With the development of quantum physics came quantum computing. Quantum physics has shown that atomic and sub-atomic particles do not necessarily follow the classical laws of physics as larger objects do. Quantum computing suggests that we use this atomic/sub-atomic level to process information in a computer system in place of the bit. One big advantage to quantum computing is that the qubit (quantum bit) is not limited to being set to one state (true or false), but can be both states at th