A current major concern regarding the advancement of quantum computing is its potential to break existing encryption methods, posing a significant cybersecurity risk. Quantum computers, once sufficiently powerful, could decrypt widely used public key encryption schemes like RSA and elliptic curve cryptography within a short time, compromising sensitive data and digital security infrastructures globally
. This threat has led to urgent efforts in developing quantum-resistant encryption algorithms, known as post-quantum cryptography (PQC), to safeguard data against future quantum attacks
. Besides cybersecurity, other technical challenges also remain critical. These include:
- Error rates and quantum decoherence: Qubits are highly fragile and prone to errors caused by environmental noise, requiring advanced error correction and fault-tolerant designs to maintain coherence long enough for practical computations
- Scalability: Current quantum computers have limited qubit counts (hundreds), but practical applications will require scaling to thousands or millions of qubits, which is a formidable engineering challenge
- High costs and specialized environments: Quantum hardware demands expensive materials, cryogenic cooling, and complex infrastructure, limiting accessibility and broad deployment
- Talent shortage: There is a global shortage of experts skilled in quantum mechanics, computer science, and related fields, which hampers rapid progress and adoption
Overall, while quantum computing promises revolutionary capabilities, the dual challenges of technological hurdles and cybersecurity risks-especially the urgent need to transition to quantum-safe encryption-are the foremost concerns as the field advances toward practical, scalable quantum systems
