Chapter 1200 – What Changed
Baruch wasn’t the only one that fainted.
The number of heart attacks in Manhattan had risen by ten times in one day.
The securities market was going through a gloomy stage; and people began to feel pessimistic about the North American economy.
The chain effect caused by this quickly swept through the global financial market. Just like a row of dominos, the stocks and futures market across the world began to fall…
What did it mean for cryptography systems to fail?
This wasn’t as simple as pa.s.swords being hacked and bank accounts being stolen.
This meant that all financial products would lose their guarantee due to the failure of algorithms such as the RSA.
The first financial product impacted were the digital cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin. Online merchant platforms that accepted bitcoin as a form of payment started to no longer support digital currency payment, in an attempt to steer away from the storm.
This was followed by the crash of a series of financial derivatives.
The current existing encryption rules were confirmed to be unreliable, and this would have a huge impact on the credit-based financial markets.
The stock market and the bond market were going through a volatile time; it was as if there was a gloomy cloud over Wall Street.
But then again, they were the ones threatening the other side of the Pacific Ocean all year long. They were also the ones who blamed their cybersecurity issues on an attack from the Chinese cyber warfare forces.
China wasn’t looking to start information warfare since that would provide no benefit to them. However, there was no doubt that China had the ability to decimate cyber warfare.
Panic started to rise from the chaos.
On the other hand, oceans of people had gathered at the 20th Asia-Pacific Cyber Information Security Summit.
Representatives from more than 20 countries, as well as dozens of non-profit international organizations and inst.i.tutions, all sat quietly in their seats, waiting for the meeting to begin.
The United States was absent from this conference, just like last time. However, their conference table seats were still reserved. There were even two bottles of mineral water on their seats.
Vice Minister Yang from the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology delivered a speech on “Co-creating Internet Information Security” and “Quantum Encryption Algorithm and Quantum Communication”.
Just two days ago, most of the attendees were not particularly excited about the summit. However, after what happened with the United States’ financial market yesterday, almost all of them began to listen attentively to every word Vice Minister Yang said, afraid of missing a single detail.
The speech lasted a full fifteen minutes. Finally, it was time for the Qu0026A session.
Vice Minister Yang stopped talking and looked around the conference room, giving an opportunity for the audience to ask questions.
Soon after, a dozen hands went up in the air.
He randomly picked a person in the front row and nodded to him, indicating that he could stand up and ask the question.
“Mr. Yang, can the quantum encryption algorithm solve the security risks brought by quantum computers once and for all?”
The person who stood up and asked the question was Clerek, the chairman of the International Information System Security Certification Consortium. When he first arrived in Shanghai, he already began a.s.sessing the risks that quantum computers might pose to the existing communication and financial industry.
Changing the encryption algorithm was not an easy task, for a country or a company.
If they were going to change the algorithm, they had to know how long this algorithm would be effective.
“Unfortunately, the quantum encryption algorithm can’t solve this problem permanently. It still uses a computational pa.s.sword. It is not unbreakable. If there’s a quantum computer with more than 2,000 qubits, it would only take the computer a day to crack the pa.s.sword.”
Minister Yang looked at Chairman Clerek and spoke.
“If we want to solve this problem once and for all, what we need is ultimately an unbreakable method of communication. In fact, the quantum submarine cable project we are working on is precisely tackling this problem.
“As for the quantum encryption algorithm, its purpose is not to solve this problem forever. Instead, it helps us survive this chaotic period caused by technological changes and buy us some time.”
Chairman Clerek nodded and sat back down.
Afterward, the representative from Britain stood up and spoke in a suspicious tone.
“Why not strengthen the supervision of quantum computers? Or at least restrict its use. It seems like the Chinese have not considered the impact disclosing this news would cause on the Internet and the financial industry. Of course, I’m not saying that China is deliberately causing the volatile markets, but I think everyone is wondering… Did you not expect this to happen?”
The British representative had a look of skepticism on his face.
Whispers were heard around the conference room.
The financial turbulence wasn’t constrained in North America, almost the entire world was affected, including China themselves. But relatively speaking, the impact on the Chinese markets was the smallest.
Vice Minister Yang smiled at the British representative and spoke.
“We did expect this to happen, but did we not warn you guys?”
He was speaking to the representative of the United Kingdom, as well as to the entire audience.
The moment he heard those words, the British representative froze. A look of embarra.s.sment emerged on his face. Other partic.i.p.ants awkwardly looked away from Minister Yang.
I guess…
They did warn us.
But none of us took it seriously.
After all, no one thought that everything would come so suddenly. They didn’t expect the series of breakthroughs in quantum computer technology in just a few months.
A 524-qubit computer…
This computer was more powerful than all of the other supercomputers combined. If the UK knew China had this kind of technology, of course they would have desperately tried to update their encryption algorithm.
“As for your previous question.” Vice Minister Yang said with a faint smile, “In fact, we are supervising the usage of the quantum computer. You can stay rest a.s.sured on this.”
The British representative felt a wave of pressure off his shoulders as he sighed in relief.
Fortunately, Minister Yang decided not to embarra.s.s him.
“I’d like to sincerely thank you for your efforts in solving this problem… We look forward to taking on more responsibilities. Of course, we will also cooperate…”
After some polite words, the UK representative quickly sat down.
Next up was the j.a.panese representative.
He stood up and immediately asked, “Is Chinese congress considering exporting this technology? Are they allowing quantum computers to enter the market in any form of cooperation…?”
The moment he asked this question, almost everyone present began listening intently.
This included the British representative who had just sat down.
Under the eager gaze of the audience, Vice Minister Yang spoke casually.
“Not for the time being, but we are not restricting quantum computers from being used for non-military cloud computing services and foreign inst.i.tutions and companies. This can be done by connecting the quantum computer through satellites or private submarine optical cables lines. If your country is interested, I’m sure our companies will be happy to make a deal.”
After hearing the response, the j.a.panese representative had a somewhat disappointed look on his face.
Cloud computing services connected by optical cables lines…
If the customer was just a normal factory or a medium-sized company, it would be fine. However, for large companies such as Canon, Mitsubis.h.i.+, and Toyota, who had laboratories involving sensitive research that impacted the entire nation’s economy, how could they feel safe letting their information pa.s.s through a foreign server?
Vice Minister Yang instantly knew what the j.a.panese representative was thinking about, so he spoke with a smile.
“Of course, nothing is permanent. After we reform the Chinese information industry, perhaps China’s semiconductor companies will consider expanding to foreign markets. Of course, this is a free market. We will not intervene. We might even encourage them to cooperate with foreign nations!”
After hearing these words, many people in the conference room resisted the urge to roll their eyes.
A free market?
Haha.
Bullsh*t!
However, none of them could do anything about it.
They had no negotiating power. This was similar to controllable nuclear fusion power, they had no leverage.
Even the arrogant Americans had to bow down on certain issues, particularly on the issue of Star Sky Technology’s patent fraud. In the end, they still politely asked East Asia Energy to speed up the fusion reactor process in Los Angeles…
The j.a.panese representative sat down. Before the next representative got up to speak, the door in the conference room suddenly opened.
When the partic.i.p.ants in the conference room turned their heads, they all looked shocked.
It was obvious who these people were.
After all, there were only two empty seats left in the conference room.
Minister Yang watched the US representative walk into the room and sit down at the conference table with an annoyed face. A playful smile appeared on his face.
Didn’t you say you weren’t coming?
What has changed?