At the end of December, a group of Chinese scientists, demonstrated the possibility of hacking fairly long RSA-compounds using modern quantum computers.
Researchers spoke about the first in the history of the hacking of a 48-bit key with a system of only 10 superconducting cubes. It will take no more than 400 cubes to hack the RSA-2048 key, which is already in the range of modern quantum cubes.
Using a quantum computer and a quantum Shor algorithm, you can decompose or factor large numbers on simple multipliers. This approach allows you to decipher the key or message much faster than on a classic computer. However, there is a problem. To factorize cryptographically significant long keys, quantum systems consisting of millions of cubes are needed. According to experts, for hacking the RSA-shift using standard factorization you will need 20 million cubes and eight hours of work. Such devices will appear no earlier than 25 years.
In 2021, researcher Klaus Peter Schnorr developed a methodology that significantly accelerates factorization. However, the work of Shnorra was criticized by colleagues due to the inability to withstand the scaling before hacking long keys.
Chinese researchers claim that they were able to get around this restriction and hacked the 48-bit key with a 10-cubic quantum system. Moreover, it is noted that the method works to hack the keys of cryptographically larger length.
Scientists were able to obtain a revolutionary result by combining classical methods of factorization with a decrease in the lattice with an algorithm of quantum close optimization (QAOA). According to researchers, only 372 cubes will be required to hack the RSA-2048 key. A similar system, for example, will soon appear in IBM. So the IBM Osprey processor opens access to 433 cubes.
If the message of Chinese scientists is true, the RSA-2048 algorithm will be hacked by quantum computers in the next couple of years.