Just listened to the most recent chop session and was interested in the quantum computing discussion since it comes up in my day job as an emerging risk.
Quantum computing is a big deal for encryption, but it’s not a catastrophe.
A function that’s easy one direction and hard in the other forms the basis for nearly all cryptography. It’s much harder to factor numbers than it is to multiply them. With two huge prime numbers you can easily multiply them together to get a new number. Trying to take the new number and figure out the original primes requires so much effort it’s effectively impossible. Sufficiently powerful quantum computers can use Shor’s algorithm to find the prime factors quickly, which breaks the encryption. That’s not great.
Researchers and industry has not been standing still. The risk of quantum computers for encryption has been known for a long time and tons of work has gone into preparing.
Since really powerful quantum computers don’t exist yet, the biggest current risk is known as “store now, decrypt later”, where powerful adversaries like governments store encrypted messages for years and wait for technology advances to supply a powerful quantum computer that can decrypt what they have stored.
NIST has already evaluated and recommended several post-quantum cryptographic algorithms and these have already seen adoption in the wild. Notably, both Signal and Apple’s iMessage already include post quantum cryptography with no special action by the user.
New cryptography can have both fundamental mistakes in how the algorithm is designed along with implementation flaws that can expose the messages. To reduce that risk, both Signal and Apple are doing double encryption, once with traditional algorithms known to be currently strong, and then again with post quantum cryptography to prevent storage for later decryption.
I know we’ve got this thread and also the longreads thread, maybe this post is better suited over there.
Regardless, I’d love an “as heard on the Trap Draw” thread. 99% of my podcast listening is done in the car and there are so many articles that get shouted out that pique my interest. Unfortunately 90% of the time, I get to the office or get home and forget the topic that got brought up.
Sure, I could try to scrub back through the episode but no thanks.
On Apple Podcasts you can search the transcripts for what it’s worth. It does like a A- job of getting the words right in my experience. You can click on the part and listen to it again if needed.
Gentlemen, Loved the last session. I am happy to offer my services as the Trap Draw official geologist. I am a geology professor and researcher. CV available on request, google scholar link here. 4 @Tron
(meaning no offense here because I am certain I would’ve handled the convo similarly, but) The part where they talked geology was train-wreck-watching levels of engagement for me. The conversation sounded like what the Zoolander scene when they’re trying to get the files out of the computer looked like. I got taken back in time to a pop quiz in 6th grade science that I assuredly did not do well on. It was great.
Very glad to hear you say this! I love his content. I have family that lives in the Olympic peninsula so his lectures have a special place in my heart. More generally speaking, tectonic plates and subduction zones are fucking sick
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