Quantum Computers Are Cracking Secret Codes Faster and Faster

Here is the paper if you are scientifically minded.

The Big Mystery of Secret Numbers

Imagine you have a big magical treasure chest, locked with a code made of two giant prime numbers.

Right now, it would take normal computers longer than the age of the universe to figure out the code.

This is how most of the world’s secret messages (like online banking, military secrets, and even your WiFi password) stay safe—because cracking these codes is ridiculously hard.

But what if we had a super-powered quantum computer that could break the code much, much faster?

Well, scientists are working on it.

In fact if you have followed me for any time you know that there are people working on it all of the time.

The Old-School Way vs The Quantum Way

Right now, the best tool for breaking these treasure chest codes is called Shor’s Algorithm, a quantum algorithm that could crack these codes in theory.

But there’s a problem: we’d need millions of qubits (quantum computer bits) to actually run it, and today’s quantum computers are way too small and noisy.

So instead, scientists are getting creative.

In this new experiment, researchers combined a classical mathematical technique with quantum computing power to factor numbers more efficiently.

They used Schnorr’s algorithm, a method that finds mathematical relationships between numbers to make factoring easier.

Normally, this approach relies on lattice-based methods, which are computationally expensive for large numbers.

To speed things up, they transformed part of the problem into a Quadratic Unconstrained Binary Optimisation (QUBO) problem—a type of mathematical puzzle that quantum computers are good at solving.

Instead of testing every possible factor like a brute-force search, they used a quantum algorithm called Quantum Approximate Optimization Algorithm (QAOA), which is designed to efficiently find the best possible solution from many possibilities.

The researchers enhanced QAOA by using a method called Fixed-Point QAOA, which eliminates the need for classical optimisation of parameters (a major bottleneck in standard QAOA).

Instead of adjusting these parameters for each problem, they precomputed and stored universal angles that work well across different problems.

This makes the quantum computations more stable and efficient.

They tested this method on a trapped-ion quantum processor, successfully factoring 1,591 into 37 × 43 using only 6 qubits.

They also ran simulations for larger numbers, such as 74,425,657 (factored as 9,521 × 7,817) with 10 qubits and 351,833,612,632,63 (factored as 4,194,191 × 8,388,593) with 15 qubits.

While the technique still requires improvements to scale up to real-world encryption levels, it demonstrates a new hybrid quantum-classical approach to integer factorisation.

And guess what?

They successfully factored 1,591 into 37 × 43 using only 6 qubits!

Not mind-blowing yet?

Well, they also ran simulations that showed the method could work for way bigger numbers in the future.

Trapped-Ion

This experiment used a trapped-ion quantum processor (a fancy way of saying they trapped super-cooled atoms and used them as qubits).

Instead of relying on Shor’s Algorithm, they tried something different:

1. The Schnorr Approach – This is a smart way to guess possible factors of a number using classical mathmatics.
2. QAOA (Quantum Approximate Optimization Algorithm) – A quantum method that helps find the best possible answer from a sea of possibilities.
3. Fixed-Point QAOA – A cool twist on QAOA that keeps certain parameters steady, making it more stable and reliable.

Think of it like this:

?? Old Way (Shor’s Algorithm) – Like trying to crack a padlock by testing every possible combination.

?? New Way (Fixed-Point QAOA) – Like using a super-smart AI that guesses the right numbers based on patterns, skipping all the bad guesses.

How Well Did It Work?

? They factored 1,591 using just 6 qubits!

? Their simulation showed it could work on much bigger numbers like 74,425,657!

? Even though the method isn’t perfect yet, it proves that quantum computers can help solve these kinds of problems.

Why Should You Care?

Right now, online security relies on the fact that big numbers are hard to break down into smaller ones.

The new simulations are code crackingly good.

If quantum computers get powerful enough to crack them easily, we’ll need new, super-secure encryption methods to keep everything safe.

In fact we know that anyway - see the simple guide to PQC.

This experiment is a step toward a future where quantum computers might be able to break today’s security codes—which means we’ll need quantum-safe encryption before that happens!

What’s Next?

The researchers are working on scaling this up. Right now, 6 qubits is cool, but to crack the biggest encryption keys, we’ll need thousands or even millions of qubits.

For now, your WiFi password is safe.

But in a few years?

Quantum hackers might be a thing. ???especially if cloud access to a working high performance quantum platform becomes available.

We’re in the early days of quantum computing, but breakthroughs like this show that the future is coming fast.

Time to start thinking about quantum security before these machines become code-breaking beasts! ??