NIST has proposed a broader AES encryption standard
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) recently proposed that the block and key size used in the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) be adjusted to 256 bits.
According to NIST, increasing the block size is necessary due to the growing number of applications with large amounts of data for processing and the growing demand for these data-intensive applications.
The block size currently used in AES is 128 bits, which comes from the Reginald block cipher family, with different encryption key lengths of 128 bits, 192 bits or 256 bits.
Increasing encryption key lengths can provide quantum security to an encryption system. As long as the encryption key lengths exceed the number of bits that a quantum computer can create and break, encryption is secure.
A simple example of the current AES design. Source: TechTarget
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Plans to develop quantum-resistant cryptography have emerged.
After Google announced its Willow quantum processor, the threat of quantum computers breaking modern encryption standards used in banking, cryptocurrency and military intelligence gained more attention.
Willow is said to be able to solve math problems in five minutes that would take 10 septillion years to crack a binary-based computer.
Despite the dramatic increase in processing power, quantum computers have design limitations, including the number of qubits dedicated to error correction that prevent these systems from breaking modern encryption standards.
In an Oct. 29 blog post, Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin laid out plans for quantum-proofing using token abstraction as part of the network's roadmap.
According to Buterin, although crypto networks should be ready for quantum dominance, quantum computers that pose a meaningful threat to cryptography are still decades away.
Account summary Buterin's goals. Source: Vitalik Buterin's blog
In November, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and Banque de France (BDF) completed a post-quantum cryptography test. The experiment attempted to post-quantum compute Microsoft Outlook emails to digitally sign the emails.
Hash-based, quantum-resistant solutions have been proposed as a way to provide quantum security for systems based on elliptic curve digital signature algorithms (ECDSAs).
However, Blockstar co-founder and CEO Adam Buck writes that implementing these hash-based schemes will never be used and that post-quantum research will continue to thrive in the decades before quantum dominance.
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