Quantum Proofing the Internet Will Be An Expensive & Protracted Process

(Economist.com) Quantum-proofing the internet is shaping up to be an expensive, protracted and probably incomplete job. Major companies that control much of the internet’s pipework are already beginning to run quanatum-proofing tests of their own. At Microsoft, Dr LaMacchia plans to test quantum-resistant encryption on the links that connect the firm’s data centers. Google has already tried integrating different kinds of quantum-resistant cryptography into experimental versions of Chrome, its web browser, and has worked with Cloudflare to test the impacts in the real world. The National Institute of Standards and Technology, an American standards organization whose decisions are often followed around the world, is running a competition to assess various quantum-resistant proposals.
The stakes are high and this article forecasts plenty of steady work for cryptographers. The article also includes in-depth discussions of the multiple challenges posed by quantum computing: the need for additional computational power; the physical needs of quantum computing that must be held at temps close to absolute zero, explanations of the qubit; Shors algorithm, etc.