The $600 quantum computer that could spell the end for conventional encryption

Concerns that quantum computing could place current encryption techniques at risk have been around for some time. But now cybersecurity startup Active Cypher has built a password-hacking quantum computer to demonstrate that the dangers are very real. Using easily available parts costing just $600, Active Cypher’s founder and CTO, Dan Gleason, created a portable quantum computer dubbed QUBY (named after qubits, the basic unit of quantum information). QUBY runs recently open-sourced quantum algorithms capable of executing within a quantum emulator that can perform cryptographic cracking algorithms. Calculations that would have otherwise taken years on conventional computers are now performed in… [Continue Reading]