7 Layers: Deloitte Quantum Experts Argue Against Fixating on Qubit Numbers, Y2Q Dates

Deloitte’s managing director of Risk & Financial Advisory Colin Soutar and Deloitte Specialist Leader Itan Barmes joined SDxCentral Editor Nancy Liu to dive into quantum security on this episode of the SDxCentral 7 Layers podcast. Soutar and Barmes answered some frequently asked questions about quantum security, such as what is it really going to take to break current cryptography with a quantum computer and why shouldn’t we fixate on the number of qubits to break the crypto or as a measure of progress? Barmes argues that the number of qubits doesn’t give the full picture. “The number of qubits you need in order to implement the [Shor’s] algorithm, even just on paper, is just one aspect. There are many others. And the danger that I see in focusing so much on the number of qubits is that people create predictions about the timeline when we don't have the hardware exactly running the algorithm,” he said. “So we can make a prediction, but it's most likely not going to go this way. There are many more aspects that are important here, not just the number of qubits.” Soutar urges organizations to focus on preparation instead. “It was fairly noticeable that a lot of people have been talking about particular dates when are quantum computers going to be mature enough and commercially viable enough that we can implement Shor's [algorithm] and render this attack?” Soutar said. “The over-fixation on a date, I think it's just the wrong message for industry in general … It's really not a matter of when, it's whether organizations are ready to deal with it when it comes along.” The discussions about Shor's algorithm and technological advances in quantum computing and even the standardization around post-quantum cryptography currently should be detached a little from organizations’ quantum-ready and crypto-agile efforts, they said. Lastly, “let's not have potential vulnerabilities overshadow all of the positive applications of quantum computing around simulation and optimization and so on,” Soutar said. “The technology at large can provide the benefits that it's certainly been promising as it continues to evolve.” Listen to the full interview now. Photo (L-R): Colin Soutar and Itan Barmes Source: Deloitte Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices