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fliptop [soylentnews.org] writes:

Recent headlines have proclaimed that Chinese scientists have hacked "military-grade encryption" using quantum computers, sparking concern and speculation about the future of cybersecurity. The claims, largely stemming from a recent South China Morning Post article [scmp.com] about a Chinese academic paper published in May, was picked up by many more serious publications [theregister.com].

However, a closer examination reveals that while Chinese researchers have made incremental advances in quantum computing, the news reports are a huge overstatement [forbes.com]:

"Factoring a 50-bit number using a hybrid quantum-classical approach is a far cry from breaking 'military-grade encryption',” said Dr. Erik Garcell, Head of Technical Marketing at Classiq, a quantum algorithm design company.

While advancements have indeed been made, the progress represents incremental steps rather than a paradigm-shifting breakthrough that renders current cryptographic systems obsolete.

“This kind of overstatement does more harm than good,” Dr. Garcell said. “Misrepresenting current capabilities as 'breaking military-grade encryption' is not just inaccurate—it's potentially damaging to the field's credibility."

Originally spotted on Schneier on Security [schneier.com]. Dept. stolen from AC [soylentnews.org].

Previously: Chinese Researchers Claim Quantum Encryption Attack [soylentnews.org]

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