Key Takeaways
- Smart contract researcher Gianluca Di Bella warns that quantum computing poses a present, not future, threat to encryption.
- He advocates for an immediate migration to post-quantum encryption standards due to harvest now, decrypt later attacks.
- While practical quantum computers may be years away, major institutions could develop decryption capabilities sooner.
- A lack of mature post-quantum zero-knowledge proof standards is a significant research gap.
- Development in this niche area is hindered by low investment and the high complexity of low-level programming.
The Imminent Threat of Quantum Computing
Gianluca Di Bella, a researcher focusing on smart contracts and zero-knowledge proofs, emphasizes that the threat posed by quantum computing is not a distant possibility but a current reality. Speaking at UN City in Copenhagen, Denmark, Di Bella urged for an immediate transition to post-quantum encryption standards.
The core of his concern lies in harvest now, decrypt later attacks. This strategy involves adversaries collecting encrypted data today, storing it, and waiting for future quantum technology to decrypt it. Di Bella highlighted the critical need for data security to remain robust for extended periods—10, 15, or even 20 years—especially for individuals in politically sensitive situations, such as dissidents in totalitarian regimes.
While commercially viable quantum computers might still be a decade or more away, Di Bella cautioned that large technology corporations like Microsoft and Google could potentially achieve significant breakthroughs in quantum decryption capabilities within a few years.
💡 He also raised concerns about quantum washing, a phenomenon where companies make unsubstantiated claims about their quantum systems and capabilities. Di Bella fears that if a nation like China were to develop the ability to break current cryptography, they would likely not disclose this capability to the rest of the world.
Addressing Quantum Threats in Zero-Knowledge Proofs
Once quantum computing reaches a sufficient level of power and scale, it has the potential to compromise the security foundations of conventional encryption and zero-knowledge proofs (ZK-proofs). This could lead to the decryption of sensitive information and the forgery of proofs generated by classical ZK-proof systems, potentially enabling the creation of fake valid statements or the bypass of verification processes.
Several post-quantum encryption standards have already been developed and approved by bodies like the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), including ML-KEM, ML-DSA, and SLH-DSA. However, a comparable mature standard for post-quantum ZK-proofs has yet to emerge. This represents a key research area for Di Bella and the smart contract development company he co-founded, Mood Global Services.
Di Bella identified PLONK (Permutations over Lagrange bases for Ecumenical Noninteractive arguments of Knowledge) as a promising implementation for post-quantum ZK-proofs. Nevertheless, he noted that these implementations are not yet battle tested and are currently considered research prototypes.
The Long and Complex Development Path
Predicting the timeline for PLONK development to reach a stage suitable for real-world application is challenging, according to Di Bella. He lamented the current lack of investment in this specialized field, attributing it to its niche nature and the significant specialized knowledge required to engage with it, which naturally slows down development.
“If you are a research and development manager of any corporation, you don’t invest in something that you don’t understand,“ he stated, highlighting a significant barrier to progress.
Di Bella explained that ZK-proof development is often conducted using low-level Rust programming, characterized by minimal abstraction and high complexity. This approach is reminiscent of the programming challenges faced in the early days of computing.
⚡ While modern programming languages offer high-level abstractions to simplify complexity, programming these advanced systems requires a deep understanding of underlying mathematics, as Di Bella emphasized, stating it is “definitely math again.”
Expert Summary
Smart contract researcher Gianluca Di Bella warns that quantum computing’s threat to encryption is immediate, advocating for swift adoption of post-quantum standards to counter harvest now, decrypt later attacks. He highlights the critical need for post-quantum zero-knowledge proof standards, a complex and underfunded area of research.
