NSA Dreams of a ‘Cryptologically Useful Quantum Computer’
The National Security Agency is reportedly building a "quantum computer" capable of breaking all forms of encryption used to protect global banking, business, medical and government records.
The National Security Agency is reportedly building a “quantum computer” capable of breaking all forms of encryption used to protect global banking, business, medical and government records.
According to RT USA:
The quantum computer is part of a $79.7 million research project called “Penetrating Hard Targets,” according to documents supplied by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden and reported by The Washington Post. Much of the program is hosted in a College Park, Maryland laboratory under classified contracts.
Past Snowden-fueled revelations have shown the NSA has worked to deliberately weaken common encryption standards.
Yet the NSA’s own technology capable of shattering all forms of public key encryption – including that which protects state secrets – is no closer to success than any other attempts in the scientific community, according to the leaked documents.
“The application of quantum technologies to encryption algorithms threatens to dramatically impact the US government’s ability to both protect its communications and eavesdrop on the communications of foreign governments,” according to one Snowden-leaked document.
— Posted by Alexander Reed Kelly.
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The reality of the Cambridge Analytica/Facebook scandal is far more sinister than a loss of personal privacy.
And this time there's "much less public scrutiny," writes Trevor Timm at The Guardian.
The bill, which would have penalized companies that refuse to cooperate with the government over encrypted phones, did not go to a vote.
The controversy over encryption has been one of the biggest public debates of the year so far, yet the Democratic presidential candidates have been largely silent on the subject.
WhatsApp, an online messaging service owned by Facebook, has over a billion users -- and as of Tuesday, any exchanges done via the app will be encrypted.
Although the year-long, concerted effort of hundreds of journalists is an admirable feat, their analysis may be overlooking crucial evidence involving corruption by Western corporations and billionaires.
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