Quantum Physics

Quantum computers could break the internet. Here’s how to save it

Scientists are figuring out how to send information securely in a future era of quantum hackers

Illustration of a red and yellow key with bubbles around the handle and the bit. A greenish bubble also encircles the entire key and blue gear shapes appear in the background.

Public-key cryptography keeps our private information safe from any snoops, but it’s vulnerable to future quantum computers.

HARALD RITSCH/SCIENCE SOURCE

By Emily Conover

Keeping secrets is hard. Kids know it. Celebrities know it. National security experts know it, too.

And it’s about to get even harder.

There’s always someone who wants to get at the juicy details we’d rather keep hidden. Yet at every moment, untold volumes of private information are zipping along internet cables and optical fibers.