Encryption algorithms that run on classical computers that are expected to be resistant to quantum computers.
This is notably not the case of the dominant 2020 algorithms, RSA and elliptic curve cryptography, which are provably broken by Grover's algorithm.
However, as of 2020, we don't have any proof that any symmetric or public key algorithm is quantum resistant.
Post-quantum cryptography is the very first quantum computing thing at which people have to put money into.
The reason is that attackers would be able to store captured ciphertext, and then retroactively break them once and if quantum computing power becomes available in the future.
There isn't a shade of a doubt that intelligence agencies are actively doing this as of 2020. They must have a database of how interesting a given source is, and then store as much as they can given some ammount of storage budget they have available.
A good way to explain this to quantum computing skeptics is to ask them:Post-quantum cryptography is simply not a choice. It must be done now. Even if the risk is low, the cost would be way too great.
If I told you there is a 5% chance that I will be able to decrypt everything you write online starting today in 10 years. Would you give me a dollar to reduce that chance to 0.5%?
They seem to be doing hardware acceleration for post-quantum cryptography algorithm.
One has to feel bad for them as they likely threw out entire chip designs over NIST Post-Quantum Cryptography Standardization algorithm breakeges.
This post-quantum cryptography competition by NIST is a huge milestone of the field.
It was mind blowing when in 2022, after several years of selection, one of the 7 finalists was broken on a classical computer, not even in a quantum computer! news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30466063 | eprint.iacr.org/2022/214 Breaking Rainbow Takes a Weekend on a Laptop by Ward Beullens. Dude announced he had a break a few days before submission: twitter.com/WardBeullens/status/1492780462028300290 On Twitter. He's so young. Epic.
Edit: and then, after the third round, things were a bit unclear, so they made a fourth round with 4 choices out of the 7 from round 3, and in August 2022 one of the four was broken again on a classic CPU!!! OMG: arstechnica.com/information-technology/2022/08/sike-once-a-post-quantum-encryption-contender-is-koed-in-nist-smackdown/
None known as of 2020.
Bibliography:
- on Quanta Magazine: www.quantamagazine.org/cryptographys-future-will-be-quantum-safe-heres-how-it-will-work-20221109/ "Cryptography’s Future Will Be Quantum-Safe. Here’s How It Will Work." (2024)
