The Latest in IT Security

The NSA is funding quantum computer work that it hopes will allow it to break virtually any encryption used today, The Washington Post reports — though theres no sign its managed to crack the puzzle better than any of the other companies or agencies working on the same thing. Leaks from Edward Snowden reveal a $79.7 million research program called Penetrating Hard Targets, including classified funding to research a quantum computer that could be used for cryptography. The Post says that much of the research is being done at the University of Marylands Laboratory for Physical Sciences, but not much more is revealed about the program, including how far quantum computing work has actually progressed. Quantum computing hinges, very broadly, on allowing individual bits (called qubits) to contain superimposed values of zero and one, vastly increasing computing power.