An IETF working group (PLANTS) is developing post-quantum cryptography solutions for HTTPS certificate authentication and transparency, addressing the challenge of 40x larger certificates through Merkle tree-based proofs and inverted certificate transparency log architecture.
Scott Aaronson debunks the "JVG algorithm" which claimed massive improvements over Shor's factoring algorithm by showing its core flaw: while it trades quantum computation for classical precomputation, the precomputation step itself requires exponential time to compute and load exponentially many values, making it hopeless for large numbers despite appearing to work on tiny inputs.
Article discusses the 'harvest now, decrypt later' threat where attackers collect encrypted data today for future decryption using quantum computers, emphasizing the need for post-quantum cryptography preparation.