A team of Chinese researchers have claimed a breakthrough to solve vulnerabilities of mainstream encryption mechanisms. They have claimed that their new, quantum code-breaking algorithm could reduce the scale of a practical quantum computer. The claim has been met with doubts from researchers in the United States.
The team, led by Professor Long Guilu of Tsinghua University, claimed in a yet-to-be-published paper that its new algorithm could reduce the scale of a practical quantum computer to 372 qubits, reported South China Morning Post.
This is even less than that of IBM’s Osprey which operates with “433 qubits and is nowhere near breaking codes”.
Qubit is the basic unit of quantum computing. Just like a bit is the fundamental unit of data storage (which can be expanded to kilobyte, megabyte, gigabyte and so on), qubit is the fundamental unit of quantum computing.
Last year in November, New York-based IBM unveiled a new 433 qubit Quantum processor that has the potential to run complex quantum computations much beyond the capability of any typical computer.
Called ‘IBM Osprey,’ it has the largest qubit count of any IBM quantum processor, more than tripling the 127 qubits on the IBM ‘Eagle’ processor unveiled in 2021.
Reports citing experts suggest that the latest claim by Chinese scientists has left senior security and quantum experts in the US concerned.
“It might not be correct, but it’s not obviously wrong. And there’s the nagging question of why the Chinese government didn’t classify this research,” American cryptographer Bruce Schneier said in a blog post.
Scott Aaronson, director of the quantum information centre at the University of Texas at Austin, said a major problem with the Chinese research paper was its failure to clarify the advantage of quantum technology over classical computers.
“It seems to me that a miracle would be required for the approach here to yield any benefit at all, compared to just running the classical Schnorr’s algorithm on your laptop,” Aaronson wrote in a blog post.
(With inputs from agencies)
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