The Dangers of Q-Day

Recent events have brought the predicted year that quantum computers become powerful enough to break the encryption protecting the internet, also known as Q-Day is sooner than ever. Due to new advances in quantum computing, the amount of power needed to break encryption is less than ever, meaning that soon nothing on the internet will be secure.

What is a Quantum Computer?

Quantum computers are like no others. While normal computers use bits which can only be either one and zero, quantum computers use qubits which can exist as both one and zero at the same time through a quantum phenomenon called superposition, which allows for quantum particles to exist in multiple states at once, until measured, which causes them collapse into one single state.

This allows quantum computers to work at incredible speed and power compared to normal computers, which is why it allows them to break the encryption of the internet, which could expose passwords, secrets, and private government files to the world.

On top of all this, it is suspected that hostile actors have been harvesting encrypted passwords now so that they can run them through quantum computers the moment they get powerfull enough, which has become known as Q-Day.

It was always known that one day Q-Day will happen, but recently there have been huge advancements made in quantum computing which has brought Q-Day much closer than expected. The thing is that quantum computers make many errors, and to fix those errors many more qubits need to be installed. At 2012 the estimated amount of qubits needed to break encryption it was around 1 billion. at 2019 it was 20 million. As qubits got ever more efficient the amount kept decreasing. In 2025 it was a million qubits, and now in 2026 it has gone down dramaticaly to a mere 100,000 to 500,000 qubits, shockingly close to the number of qubits in the largest array, leading experts such as google to warn of Q-Day in 2029, and pushing companies to switch to Post Quantum Cryptography, or PQC for short.

The Solution to Q-Day

While this all paints a terrible and despairing picture, the good news is that there is something that we can do to stop the internet from collapsing! Experts have developed a way of encryption that future quantum computers can not decrypt, protecting the internet from Q-Day. Though there are a few different variants, the basis is the same. PQC uses extremley complicated mathematical problems that future quantum computers can not solve, based more on geometry and algebra than the standard encryption methods.

The issue is that to switch to a new method of encryption requires consensus and time, and energy, and can be difficult, which is why not many companies and businesses have moved to PQC yet.

The Benefits of Quantum Computers

Despite the gloomy look on quantum computers in this article so far, it is important to remember that quantum computers can be used for so much more! They will be able to simulate nature far more accurately than we currently can, due to the fact that they themselves are based off of nature, and will likely spark an explosion of scientific discoveries in all fields, be it physics, technology, or even medicine, there are infinite possibilities.

So while quantum computers can be used for bad, and they are a large threat, they also have the potential to lead humanity into a whole new era of scientific discoveries, and provide a better future for all.

"We can only see a short distance ahead, but we can see plenty there that needs to be done." - Alan Turing

No AI used in the making of this article.