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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtm...computer101.xml

 

"But now I am far more optimistic. It has been a huge surprise for those of us in the field. I believe that in 20 years at the most, quantum computers will be used in everyday life on people's desktops."

 

• Typical personal computers calculate 64 bits of data at a time. A 64- qubit quantum computer would be about 18 billion billion times faster.

 

• A working quantum computer could be so mind-bogglingly powerful that it would solve in seconds certain problems that would take the fastest supercomputer millions of years to complete.

Will we finally see SETI make some alien contact? :D

 

Anyway, I don't see why this would require any revolutionary new security mechanisms. Layered security systems already exist and are successfully implemented for instance by Swiss banks for online banking since 2001. They have a device that looks like a small pocket calculator, it's totally stand-alone and offline, with a slot for a card that the bank provides for free to their customers. (The reader is free too btw.) The card contains your contract number as unique identifier - not your account number. That's a number nobody else knows unless somebody kidnaps and tortures you :2cents:

Every time you want to log on to your account you have to enter your contract number on the bank's website. (No name, nick or PIN etc.) Then the bank generates a unique session PIN for this contract number only. You then have to type the PIN into the card reader which then generates a password just for this session. The generated password will only work if the session PIN and the info on the card are plausible. The algorithms how the PIN and password on the card reader are generated are of course kept strictly secret by the bank and only a serious breach at the bank may open up a gap. But even if somebody cracked the algorithms, brute force even within seconds on a QC won't work as you have precisely one attempt for one password. You'll always need the card reader regardless. After x unsuccessful attempts (I don't remember the exact number) the account will be blocked to online banking. Apart from that, it would be totally aleatory potluck for an attacker as the contract number does not give you any clue about the owner and especially about the account.

 

BTW phishing will never work as each password is unique, valid for one session only and not even known by the bank before logging on.

 

Known successful hacks, phishing etc since this system is live: none.

 

I've read in discussions on other forums that a lot of people found this system too awkward but at the same time complaining that security is still too patchy in certain areas. Well, at the same rate criminal energy is becoming more sophisticated, the more we might have to think of lower tech options. Einstein once said ' Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex and more violent. It takes a touch of genius and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction.'

Quantum computers, due to the "entanglement" effect of particles, can also communicate with each other instantly across any distance (unlike copper wires and fibre optic cables, which are limited by the speed of light). And qubits have, like, infinite bandwidth. Imagine the "download" speed of that...

 

As for security problems caused by quantum computers churning through different combos of passwords... future technologies (such as computers capable of detecting brain activity and patterns caused by certain thoughts) will definitely solve that.

Quantum computers, due to the "entanglement" effect of particles, can also communicate with each other instantly across any distance (unlike copper wires and fibre optic cables, which are limited by the speed of light). And qubits have, like, infinite bandwidth. Imagine the "download" speed of that...

 

As for security problems caused by quantum computers churning through different combos of passwords... future technologies (such as computers capable of detecting brain activity and patterns caused by certain thoughts) will definitely solve that.

The speed of light is not the limitation, but instead the switches which are engaged and disengaged to transmit information; even then the mass that acts as the carrier, such as optical fiber, slows the transmission of light. Copper wires of course are limited by the speed of electric current and the resistance caused by impurities in the metal.

 

Also, quantum entanglement does not mean particles "communicate", but instead rely on each other in the fact that in a pair of entangled particles one must be spin-up and the other spin-down during measurement. During measurement by means of interaction of these entangled particles by other particles would in effect allow a transmission of meaningful information.

Distance however does present a problem because there would need to be a gap in space for which these particles would not have any "foreign" particles interfere and disrupt quantum communication by becoming entangled. It is more plausible for short distances in a relatively closed environment, such as if implemented in a quantum "circuit board."

 

Qubits "themselves" do not have bandwidth whatsoever, but instead an operational frequency for information to be converted from quantum form to classical.

 

In effect with quantum transmission of information, download and upload would be truly parallel and in fact not really applicable in their original terms.

It does however make me wonder who will pioneer the most user friendly quantum operating system.

 

A quantum operating system should be able to do things we can't even conceive now. Maybe a bit like Star Trek computers ;)

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