NSA seeks to build quantum computer that could crack most types of encryption - The Washington Post
In its inimitable fashion, the Washington Post once again points out that the nefarious NSA is up to no good and is trying to build a computer that will defeat all current methods of cryptology.
You got a problem with that? Well, welcome to the real world. That is exactly what the National Security Agency was set up to do, especially to the codes and cryptology efforts of those people who are not exactly on the same sheet of music as the U.S. and its government.
Now, you may not like what the NSA does, or how it does it, but its job is to help the US not get blindsided like it did on Dec. 7, 1941, or Sep. 11, 2001. We can debate until the cows come home whether the ends justify the means, but that is the mission we have entrusted to the NSA in the world of electro-magnetic communications. It merely is trying to do its job to the best of its ability ... albeit myopically and tone-deaf as it possibly can in seems.
The problem, it seems is that some people will be strict constructionists on certain civil liberties while the obverse on others. They also sometimes will be so myopic on the maintenance of their view of civil liberties to the point that it becomes a mutual suicide pact. The trick, as it always has been, is on how to maintain a proper balance between security and liberty. And I for one am not good enough to know exactly where that balance should be.
The thing is that we long ago crossed the Rubicon on what was secret and what was not when we send our thoughts via the electro-magnetic spectrum. Whether it is by wire, microwave, fiberoptics, or the ether, our communications are not secure ... at least for for the vast majority of us and for those of us who do not have access to the most advanced encryption algorithms.
I remember, back in the day when I was a part-time soldier, trying to keep our communications secure. I became increasingly aware that essentially our efforts were basically fruitless. Just as I could not understand, initially, transmissions masked by the KY-58 units attached to our radios unless given the proper key, I began to understand that if you can break the key, you can break any code ... even one-off codes like book codes and others.
I also began to realize that if you transmitted any electronic emission, you basically were hanging a big neon sign that said "HERE I AM." I had fun explaining that concept to a couple of captains and majors why having my mortar platoon in their vicinity was not the brightest of ideas unless they could un-ass the area and move at least a kilometer in any direction in less than the 10 minutes it took my guns to fire three rounds in adjusting fire (because the grid square - per Soviet doctrine - would cease to exist about three minutes later due to counter-battery fire), My guys were well-practiced in shooting and scooting, because we knew our survival depended on it.
So, security in a digital world is quickly becoming something we can't rely on, no matter how much we want to. And if the NSA doesn't build the quantum computers, others will ... you can bank on that - the story above points out the Swiss and the European Union (basically the French and the Germans) are pushing the envelope on that front as we speak. So, you can either be circumspect about what you say and send over the ether ... or you accept that others can and will know what you sending.
It is not a pretty prospect, but reality rarely is a pretty thing.
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