In the news

quantum computers a step closer .... disclaimers at bottom of article however

Google says an advanced computer has achieved "quantum supremacy" for the first time, surpassing the performance of conventional devices.
The technology giant's Sycamore quantum processor was able to perform a specific task in 200 seconds that would take the world's best supercomputers 10,000 years to complete.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-50154993

What an appalling horror.

I can't even....

The technology giant's Sycamore quantum processor was able to perform a specific task in 200 seconds that would take the world's best supercomputers 10,000 years to complete.

And the result is that Google's tax due to the UK Government has been calculated at a grand total of £0.42 ?

Any quantum computing headlines like that tend to put the fear of God into people who work in Blockchain :D

mine ALL the remaining bitcoins in seconds

I was thinking more of spending ALL of everybody's bitcoin in seconds because Sha256d would be cracked in nano seconds.

To be honest that would be the least of our concerns because a functioning quantum computer could brute force every banking system and missile system on earth in nano seconds too :D

I don't think there's a suitable quantum algorithm for immediate cracking of hashes like SHA-256 at silly speeds.

Things that rely on factorisation or discrete logarithms (e.g. RSA, etc) are definitely susceptible via Shor's algorithm in a quantam computer.

The best known quantum algorithm for cryptographic hashes is due to Grover et al and, at best, reduces the effectiveness of a hash to 2^(n/3) where n is the hash size. That's a significant reduction but far from crackable instantly.

One can only hope

You're probably right. Will be a while before we have quantum fpgas!

This ^ +1

Superb explanation of effect of quantum computing on various algs here https://crypto.stackexchange.com/questions/59375/are-hash-functions-strong-against-quantum-cryptography-and-or-independent-enough

Algs? Really?

Do you know how he liked his name abbreviated?

Algi to his close friends.

Algi met a bear

Yep, algs.

Same shortening is lingua franca in the speedcubing community as well.

I had to Google that.

algorythyms is difficult to spell
and if you're in the algorythym community saying alogrythm 100x a day with your algorithm mates it could seriously hamper productivity

But what sort of monster abbreviates William to Will?

They could write an alg to solve it I’m sure

I did not wake up this morning expecting the use of algs to have been controversial.

You'll be objecting to the use of nonce next.

No your a cryptographic nonce etc.

But what sort of monster abbreviates William to Bill?

It can't brute force a physical device.

There are already digital solutions for avoiding a 'quantum hack'.
https://theqrl.org/

The oncoming self-driving cars are overrated, I'm waiting for ROVs (rodent operated vehicles)
https://www.iflscience.com/brain/teaching-rats-to-drive-tiny-cars-helps-them-relax-scientists-discover-/amp.html