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Re: US Postal Service Bailout Imminent? 

By: nacl01 in ROUND | Recommend this post (1)
Mon, 23 Apr 12 1:25 AM | 250 view(s)
Boardmark this board | De's Test Board 		Msg. 40665 of 45510
(This msg. is a reply to 40619 by Decomposed)
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And what are we going to do then? I don't know. But it sure is going to be hard to keep a secret.

I read the book The Code Book: How to Make It, Break It, Hack It, Crack It by Simon Singh. He makes the point that the protection of secrets is a running battle between code makers and code breakers - giving us periods in history with good protection and other periods with little protection. He points out that right now codes are pretty secure but at some point our encryption will be broken - he thinks with a breakthrough in large number factoring. But who knows?

Quite a fascinating book if you are easily fascinated by such things.

nacl

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The above is a reply to the following message:
Re: US Postal Service Bailout Imminent?
By: Decomposed in ROUND
Thu, 19 Apr 12 7:00 PM 		Msg. 40619 of 45510

For better or worse, a sea change is coming our way in about 20 years.

Currently, encryption is based on ever-more complex algorithms and lengthy, complex keys. The better algorithms are now using 512-bit and larger keys, and I'm sure it will be in the multiple-k range before we know it.

Some of ciphertext is now supposed to take a quadrillion TO THE QUADRILLION operations to crack, rendering decryption without the key almost an impossibility.

EXCEPT that quantum computing is on the horizon. While conventional computing deals with bits set to one or zero, a quantum computer can view the bits simultanously as one, zero, and every state in between. Take a minute and let that sink in.

This will revolutionize everyone's ability to decipher text. I think I heard that the quadrillion ^ quadrillion operations mentioned above will be reduced to SIXTY. I said that right. SIXTY. With quantum computers, ciphertext can be cracked in fewer steps than it took to encrypt it in the first place.

And what are we going to do then? I don't know. But it sure is going to be hard to keep a secret.

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