Shor: post-quantum cryptography 'incredibly hard' but doable
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- Peter Shor created his namesake algorithm in 1994 at Bell Labs after hearing Umesh Vazirani's seminar on quantum computing — a recipe for factoring very large numbers that threatens the math underpinning modern encryption.
- Shor told the Quantum.Tech World conference in Boston he isn't worried his algorithm will break the internet, citing "good methods for post-quantum cryptography" — though he cautioned that implementation will be "incredibly hard."
- NIST has already established quantum-proof encryption standards, but Shor noted that banks and hospital systems may need years just to audit their communications networks and update the devices and software that comprise them.
- Google is targeting 2029 to complete its migration to post-quantum cryptography, and President Donald Trump recently signed an executive order requiring all high-value and high-impact US government systems to do the same by 2031.
- Shor called current quantum computers "still toys" but said they'll "stop being toys very soon," citing rapid progress in scaling hardware and improving error correction.
- Shor dismissed stock-market prediction as a quantum use case and said useful applications are narrow — chiefly simulating quantum and molecular systems and solving certain optimization problems.
Why it matters: The migration to post-quantum cryptography is a massive multi-year undertaking for banks, hospitals, and governments, with Google targeting 2029 and Trump's executive order setting 2031 for federal systems — and Shor himself says quantum computers will "stop being toys very soon," narrowing the window for institutions to audit and update networks using NIST's newly minted quantum-proof standards.
