If suitably powerful quantum computers can one day be built, many cryptosystems in common use today could be vulnerable due to something called quantum factorisation. Dr Stephan Neuhaus, senior lecturer at InIT, and Dr Peter Gutmann of the University of Auckland show in a new paper that all currently published records in quantum factorisation were only achieved through trickery. In order to demonstrate that these do not pose a threat to currently used cryptosystems, they replicate those records with an 8-bit home computer from 1981, an abacus, and a dog.
  • dbtng@eviltoast.orgOPEnglish
    9·
    8 hours ago

    Technocrit buried the lead when they posted this. Here it is with the actual paper highlighted.

    Here’s another paper describing the issues at play. This one is a bit more serious.
    Craig Gidney - Why haven’t quantum computers factored 21 yet?
    https://algassert.com/post/2500

    And apparently this field is ripe for humor. And Buzz Lightyear graphics.
    The prior author did his own joke paper, which is too much for my head.
    Falling with Style: Factoring up to 255 “with” a Quantum Computer
    https://sigbovik.org/2025/proceedings.pdf#page=146