Defending Cryptography Against Quantum Attackers

Abstract

The world of computing looks to propel itself into a new age with the progression of quantum computers and their growing capabilities. With these new capabilities come new threats, especially in the world of cryptography. Modern encryption schemes are built upon mathematical concepts that have proven difficult for today’s computers to solve instances of. However, studies over the past few decades have proven that a fully realized quantum computer will not find all of these things difficult. This means the privacy of every person and entity could be at stake if no preparations are made in anticipation of the fully realized quantum computer. Preparing for this threat means having cryptographic standards understood as much as possible with schemes ready for implementation. This preparation is being regulated by organizations such as the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) who has requested that research teams all over the world submit their ideas for encryption methods and standards so that the community as a whole can collaborate through analysis, critiquing and learning from them, in turn pushing progress forward at a faster pace. In this paper, I take up this mantle of analysis and will discuss the results from a selected scheme.