Page 50 - Cyber Defense eMagazine September 2023

Quantum Security is National Security
By Andy Manoske, Principal Product Manager of Cryptography and Security Products at
HashiCorp

Quantum computers will be one of the defining frontiers in computing over the next century. Utilizing the
power of quantum mechanics to provide near-infinite parallelism to “divide and conquer” certain types of
problems better than any traditional computer before them, quantum computers will likely herald many
breakthroughs in areas such as AI, high finance, medical innovation, and pharmaceutical research due
to their unique capabilities.

But they also pose potential threats to national security. The mathematical capabilities that allow quantum
computers to search for novel chemical combinations for future cancer drugs and train AI large language
models (LLMs) faster than conceivably possible with digital computers, similarly will enable unique types
of codebreaking attacks against traditional encryption. Such attacks pose grave threats to the
cryptography we use to identify parties on the internet and protect national secrets.

Cyber Defense eMagazine – September 2023 Edition 50
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