Quantum Computing – Is it the future?

Quantum computing is an emerging technology that is poised to have a tremendous impact on many sectors of the economy including cyber security. To define it loosely, quantum mechanics is the study of things that are either really small (subatomic particles), really cold (zero or sub-zero temperature particles), or really well isolated particles. It attempts to explain the behavior of subatomic particles at the nanosomic level. Until recent technological breakthroughs, quantum computing was just a theory. Ideas on what could be accomplished with it couldn’t be seen tangibly. Today, real quantum computers are accessible via the cloud giving thousands of people the ability to learn, perform research and take on both new and old problems which need solutions.

Superposition & Entanglement

Quantum computing has its origins in quantum mechanics, which is a branch of physics science. Quantum mechanics saw its rise to prominence through the adoption of scientific theories by scientists to explain observations which could not be reconciled with traditional physics rules and concepts. Two important concepts from quantum mechanics that relate to quantum computing are quantum superposition and quantum entanglement. The superposition principle states that if a physical object may exist in one of many states based on the arrangement of particles, but that the most general state of the object is a combination of all of the states it could possibly be. Quantum entanglement involves the states of two or more objects that have to be described with reference, or connected to each other, even though the physical objects may be spatially separated. An example would be two pennies with heads and tales’ sides to them that when spun at the same time represent a constant state of heads and tales that never stops.

Interference

Yet still, a third important concept in quantum mechanics is interference. Interference can be constructive or destructive but in either case it is used to control the state of objects, or quantum states thereby amplifying signals that produce a desired result and de-amplifying signals and results that are not wanted. Computers currently use bits, which are essentially binary chains of 1’s and 0’s. These bits can only consist of the values 1 or 0 at any given time. Quantum computing instead uses qubits which can not only consist of two values, but they can use a set of quantum states that include the superposition of this binary. Quantum mechanics for computers attempts solve the inherent limitations of computers. This inherent limitation is computational load and memory. Even super computers have these computational limitations that are unavoidable based on how the underlying technology and rules of computing processors and system memory modules work. Quantum mechanics allows for the use of another set of rules, rules without these limitations, to be used by computers to perform vast amounts more computations at greater speeds.

Quantum computing could have a huge impact on the cybersecurity sector because it can offer greater resistance to hacking for individual computer systems through stronger and more robust encryption capabilities. The random combinations of numbers that can come from quantum computing is being used by banks and governments alike to create something called a “one time pad”. A “one time pad” is a special kind of encryption key that is thought to be unbreakable. The greatness behind them is that they are only used one time, for a single transaction like an email message. Since they are only used once the effort to hack them is essentially meaningless as subsequent transactions will use totally different numbers and sequences. Quantum computing is therefore poised to change most of the encryption algorithms commonly used on the internet.

There is much to look forward to as quantum computing technology continues to evolve. Its application, along with AI (artificial intelligence), will have tremendous impacts to many areas of the global economy and our lives. On its own, quantum computing simply redefines the rules for computing that have governed the computers til now; coupled with other technologies it can and will truly change the world as we know it.

References:

Berman, N. (2018, June 08). The Top Five Promising Emerging Cybersecurity Technologies. “https://moneyinc.com/promising-emerging-cybersecurity-technologies/”