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computers / alt.privacy.anon-server / Can quantum computing finally crack PGP encryption?

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* Can quantum computing finally crack PGP encryption?Nomen Nescio
`- Can quantum computing finally crack PGP encryption?Nomen Nescio

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Can quantum computing finally crack PGP encryption?

<5dcf5f9223eddf33ab147acc3b1736f9@dizum.com>

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https://www.novabbs.com/computers/article-flat.php?id=14064&group=alt.privacy.anon-server#14064

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From: nob...@dizum.com (Nomen Nescio)
Subject: Can quantum computing finally crack PGP encryption?
Message-ID: <5dcf5f9223eddf33ab147acc3b1736f9@dizum.com>
Date: Sun, 23 Apr 2023 22:09:33 +0200 (CEST)
Newsgroups: alt.privacy.anon-server
Path: i2pn2.org!i2pn.org!weretis.net!feeder8.news.weretis.net!sewer!news.dizum.net!not-for-mail
Organization: dizum.com - The Internet Problem Provider
X-Abuse: abuse@dizum.com
Injection-Info: sewer.dizum.com - 2001::1/128
 by: Nomen Nescio - Sun, 23 Apr 2023 20:09 UTC

The theory behind quantum computing allows for all possibilities of a complex task to be completed at the same time.
For a normal computer, it would solve problems by trying tasks 1 by 1 until it cracked the code. Because of this,
PGP (pretty good privacy) codes have not been cracked by any government agency.

Hence the question: with the intensive research behind quantum computer technology, could it be possible for the FBI,
CIA, and other agencies to decrypt PGP?

PGP is used in the dark web to fuel criminal empires and allow for safe communication through vendors. If quantum
computing could decrypt this communication, it has the potential to halt blackmarket drug trade by exposing vendors.

So it most likely can't be cracked!

Can quantum computing finally crack PGP encryption?

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From: nob...@dizum.com (Nomen Nescio)
Subject: Can quantum computing finally crack PGP encryption?
References: <5dcf5f9223eddf33ab147acc3b1736f9@dizum.com>
Message-ID: <a7078afc7eae3cae2c9d6f9b037b2d49@dizum.com>
Date: Mon, 1 May 2023 21:00:24 +0200 (CEST)
Newsgroups: alt.privacy.anon-server
Path: i2pn2.org!i2pn.org!weretis.net!feeder8.news.weretis.net!sewer!news.dizum.net!not-for-mail
Organization: dizum.com - The Internet Problem Provider
X-Abuse: abuse@dizum.com
Injection-Info: sewer.dizum.com - 2001::1/128
 by: Nomen Nescio - Mon, 1 May 2023 19:00 UTC

On Sun, 23 Apr 2023 22:09:33 +0200 (CEST), Nomen Nescio said:

> The theory behind quantum computing allows for all possibilities of a
> complex task to be completed at the same time. For a normal computer, it
> would solve problems by trying tasks 1 by 1 until it cracked the code.
> Because of this, PGP (pretty good privacy) codes have not been cracked by
> any government agency.

That appears to be the consensus of opinion.

> Hence the question: with the intensive research behind quantum computer
> technology, could it be possible for the FBI, CIA, and other agencies to
> decrypt PGP?

The American author and humorist Mark Twain famously said:

"There's more than one way to skin a cat."

As usual, *people* are the weak-point of any cryptosystem. They do stupid
shit, like DPR/Ross Ulbricht storing his PGP passphrase in a folder for the
Feds to find, when his laptop was seized. So it was, that in one fell swoop,
every single encrypted message ever sent to Silk Road's Dread Pirate Roberts
(DPR) was trivially decrypted by the Feds. The stupid fucker handed the Feds
the rope they used to hang him.

The same applies even to cryptosystems that are provably unbreakable in
both theory and practice. I am, of course, referring to one-time-pads
(OTPs). The Soviets provided their agents with OTPs -- these are, hands-
down, the single best cryptosystem ever devised. Even so, they still have
weaknesses that can be exploited -- use a one-time-pad twice, and the
traffic is trivially broken. If someone gets their hands on the pads and
copies them, they can also decrypt OTP-encrypted traffic.

In Spycatcher: The Candid Autobiography of a Senior Intelligence Officer,
Peter Wright, a former MI5 officer and Assistant Director, detailed how MI5
used to find hidden one-time-pads used by Soviet and Warsaw Pact spies.
These OTPs were copied, and the illegal's encrypted traffic surveilled and
decrypted.

Quantum computers are not required to 'break' PGP. As Edward Snowden has
stated:

"Encryption works. Properly implemented strong crypto systems are
one of the few things that you can rely on. Unfortunately, endpoint
security is so terrifically weak that NSA can frequently find ways
around it."
-- Edward Snowden

This is the reason why the NSA's TAO (Tailored Access Operations) exists.
Their job is to find ways to compromise the endpoints, which usually means
compromising one of the end-point's hardware. This means either a black-
bag job (where agents surreptiously burgle your home or office and install
bugs) or the use of some type of malware to compromise your device.

Neither of these solutions can be employed en-masse; rather, they are used
selectively with carefully-chosen targets in mind.

These types of operations are *expensive* in terms of time, money, and
manpower, all of which are in limited quantities. These techniques are not
going to be used for garden-variety criminals, unless perhaps you are a
significant target. (It almost goes without saying that people purchasing
/vending drugs on darknet markets are only rarely significant targets
warranting the use of such measures.)

> PGP is used in the dark web to fuel criminal empires and allow for safe
> communication through vendors. If quantum computing could decrypt this
> communication, it has the potential to halt blackmarket drug trade by
> exposing vendors.
>
> So it most likely can't be cracked!

If quantum computing ever becomes a reality, to the extent that it can be
used to break classical encryption algorithms, e.g. like those used in PGP,
law enforcement will be the very last to know of its' existence. Any such
technology would be regarded as one of the most closely-guarded of secrets,
and would be used for strategic purposes: e.g. decrypting military and
diplomatic traffic at the hightest levels.

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