The blockchain system allows you to store data using the cryptography method - encrypting messages to protect against unauthorized persons. Typically, information is encoded using a "key" - a set of characters. Bitcoin, like any other cryptocurrency, is one type of recording information on the blockchain: users, each of which is assigned a specific virtual address, get a wallet and a cryptographic key that opens access to the record.

As scientists from the Russian Quantum Center have found out, even the most complex key can be decrypted, if there are enough resources of a quantum computer. A large analytical article on this topic appeared in the journal Nature.

Reverse side of progress

An ordinary computer stores and transmits all information in the form of a set of zeros and ones - the so-called bits. In a quantum computer, all data is contained and transmitted in qubits — combinations of bits multiplied by complex numbers. This allows quantum systems to perform any computational operation thousands of times faster.

Russian scientists have found that due to the lightning speed of solving problems, a quantum computer is able to decipher the cryptographic code used in the blockchain technology.

“The advent of quantum computers compromises the security of any public-key cryptographic systems. The blockchain technology is particularly at risk because operations are performed completely anonymously, ”said Alexander Lvovsky, a professor at the Physics Department of the University of Oxford and a member of the scientific council of the Russian Quantum Center.

Public key encryption algorithms use so-called one-way functions that allow you to encode information in such a way that only the rightful owner can decrypt it. In order to crack the code, the hacker will have to calculate the inverse of the function, which takes an ordinary computer at least a year. For quantum computers, this is a task of a few seconds.

According to researchers, after the appearance of a quantum computer, hackers will be able to decipher cryptographic codes and “steal” bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies, if the blockchain infrastructure does not implement new methods of information protection.

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In order to cybersecurity

According to Russian experts, quantum computers will pose a threat not so much for the blockchain technology, as for the cryptoalgorithms that underlie it. The same algorithms are used, in particular, in the banking sector. Therefore, the emergence of quantum computers that can crack such algorithms will lead to much larger and more serious consequences than hacking into the Bitcoin network.

“Experts have already thought about introducing crypto-resistant algorithms into the blockchain that can withstand attacks from quantum computers. I think a quantum computer will appear no earlier than in a few years. During this time, it will be possible to implement crypto-resistant algorithms that will ensure data protection, ”said Denis Smirnov, a blockchain consultant in an interview with RT.

According to the expert, it is necessary to monitor the development of quantum technologies and implement algorithms that are resistant to quantum attacks, before powerful computers appear.

“It is wise to carefully study the next generation of encryption protocols. I think that now this practice should become a basic part of the activities of each organization in the field of cyber security, ”said Robert Sutor, vice president of IBM Research, in an interview with Gizmodo.

Previously, experts have proposed such methods of data protection as the use of post-quantum cryptography, resistant to cracking by a quantum computer.

“It is best to start preparing for quantum attacks in advance. If the sword is a matter of the future, then the shield already exists, ”concluded Lvovsky.