Chinese scientists have conducted the “world’s first effective attack” on a widely used encryption algorithm using a quantum computer, according to SCMP.
The breakthrough poses a “real and substantial threat” to the long-standing password protection mechanism employed in critical sectors such as banking and the military, researchers claim.
A team led by Wang Chao from Shanghai University utilized a quantum computer from the Canadian company D-Wave Systems. With it, they managed to breach the Present, Gift-64, and Rectangle algorithms. These algorithms represent a SPN structure, which forms the basis of the Advanced Encryption Standard AES, employed in military and financial sectors as well as in crypto wallets.
Wang’s article discusses the use of quantum annealing technology as an analogue of an artificial intelligence algorithm capable of optimizing solutions on a global scale.
“This is the first instance where a quantum computer has posed a real and substantial threat to several full-scale structured SPN algorithms in use today,” Wang’s team stated.
Existing factors such as environmental conditions, hardware limitations, and the complexity of developing a unified attack algorithm will hinder full-scale quantum hacking, the researchers note.
In the test, the scientists did not obtain specific passwords, but they “achieved more success than before.”
They noted that further developments could lead to more robust quantum attacks and uncover new vulnerabilities in existing cryptographic systems.
Back in March, Vitalik Buterin proposed a method to protect Ethereum from quantum computers.
In August, experts introduced encryption standards to counter high-tech hacking methods.