Quantum-safe cryptography for the Internet

公钥加密是确保所有互联网通信安全的关键。例如，传输层安全（TLS）协议使用公钥加密来保护每个“https”网页，以输入密码或信用卡号。然而，实际上使用的所有公钥算法都是基于数学问题的，比如因子分解、离散多项式或椭圆曲线，这些问题都可能被量子计算机破解。量子安全密码学领域，也称为后量子密码学或量子抵抗密码学，旨在构建即使在量子计算机上也被认为是安全的公钥密码系统。物理学的不断进步指向最终建造大规模量子计算机。这样的未来设备仍然能够解密当今的通信，允许任何人解密今天传输的数据。因此，重要的是现在就开始开发和部署量子安全密码学，甚至在量子计算机建造之前。

Public key cryptography is essential in securing all Internet communications. For example, the Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocol uses public key cryptography to protect every "https" web page for entering passwords or credit card numbers. However, all public key algorithms used in practice are based on mathematical problems—such as factoring, discrete logarithms, or elliptic curves—which could be broken by a quantum computer. The field of quantum-safe cryptography, also called post-quantum or quantum-resistant cryptography, aims to construct public key cryptosystems that are believed to be secure even against quantum computers. Ongoing advancements in physics point toward the eventual construction of large-scale quantum computers. Such future devices would still be able to decrypt present-day communications, allowing anyone to decrypt data transmitted today. Thus, it is important to start developing and deploying quantum-safe cryptography now, even before quantum computers are built.