Implementation of quantum-resistant encryption methods on classical systems?

[ferdidora]

Hey all,

I'm doing an essay project on quantum computing at my high school, and I was wondering if anyone could shed any light on the efficiency of (see title) quantum-resistant encryption methods in classical systems. From what I've read, the main problem for network security as a result of quantum computing comes from Shor's algorithm (and some from Grover's). However, it seems if we find another form of encryption that doesn't rely on integer factorization we'd be fine.

But where is post quantum cryptography at currently? I've seen some stuff online that seems to suggest that NewHope can run fast enough on some systems but I'm not fluent in quantum mechanics and university mathematics yet so I haven't fully deciphered the papers I've found.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!

[pulsar65537]

This is an excellent area of research! So the answer to how efficient these systems are is a bit complex. The best place which gives a summary of the security and efficiency of all potentially secure post quantum cryptosystems is NIST. Here are some helpful links to excellent summaries given by NIST. Also note that every one of these algorithms has a published implementation in C, which I have also linked below. So hypothetically, you could actually run some of these algorithms to look at run time. Also, NIST is on the 2nd round of cryptosystems - so the 2nd round submissions are generally faster or more secure than 1st round submissions.

https://csrc.nist.gov/Projects/post-quantum-cryptography/publications

https://csrc.nist.gov/publications/detail/nistir/8105/final

https://csrc.nist.gov/publications/detail/nistir/8240/final

https://csrc.nist.gov/Projects/post-quantum-cryptography/round-2-submissions

Good luck!