The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) recently proposed standardizing the block and key size used in the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) to 256 bits.
According to NIST, increasing the block size is necessary due to the number of applications with larger volumes of data to process and the growing demand for these data-intensive applications.
Currently, the block size used in AES, which comes from the Rijndael block cipher family, is 128 bits, with varying encryption key lengths of 128 bits, 192 bits, or 256 bits.
Increasing encryption key lengths can provide quantum security to a cryptographic system. As long as the encryption key lengths are larger than the number of bits a quantum computer can factor and break, cryptographic security is preserved.
A simple illustration of the current AES design. Source: TechTarget
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Plans to develop quantum-resistant cryptography emerge
The threat of quantum computers breaking modern encryption standards used in banking, cryptocurrencies, and military intelligence came into sharper focus after Google revealed its Willow quantum processor.
Willow can reportedly solve computational problems in five minutes that would take a binary-based computer 10 septillion years to crack.
Despite the exponential increase in processing power, quantum computers have design limitations, including the number of qubits dedicated to error correction that prevent these systems from cracking modern encryption standards.
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin outlined a plan to quantum-proof Ethereum using account abstraction as part of the network’s roadmap in an Oct. 29 blog post.
According to Buterin, although crypto networks must prepare for quantum supremacy, quantum computers posing meaningful risks to encryption are decades away.
Buterin’s goals for account abstraction. Source: Vitalik Buterin blog
In November, the Singapore Monetary Authority (MAS) and Banque de France (BDF) completed a post-quantum cryptography test. The experiment tested securing Microsoft Outlook emails with post-quantum computing to digitally sign the emails.
Hash-based, quantum-resistant solutions have also been proposed as a way to provide quantum security for systems relying on elliptical curve digital signature algorithms (ECDSA).
However, co-founder and CEO of Blockstream Adam Back recently wrote that implementing these hash-based schemes would likely never be used and said that post-quantum research would continue to develop in the decades preceding quantum supremacy.
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