According to the Washington Post, it seems that the US government — the National Security Agency (NSA) in particular — is working on a quantum computer which would be able to crack all the encryption that the public uses.

This is part of a project known as “Penetrating Hard Targets”. So far, $79.7 million has been spent on it, and in documents that Edward Snowden has leaked, it is shown that the government’s efforts to create a quantum computer are being done in “large, shielded rooms known as Faraday cages, which are designed to prevent electromagnetic energy from coming in or out” and these rooms are being used “to keep delicate quantum computing experiments running.”

Luckily, according to the documents, it seems that the government isn’t close to completing a quantum computer, though it is doubtful they will stop trying, and they don’t exactly give out regular updates on this subject either.

If they ever do get one working though, the idea to “encrypt everything ” on the internet that has been pushed around by Eric Schmidt, who is Google’s executive chairman, may not be enough to ensure privacy because a quantum computer would, theoretically, be able to easily crack any and all encryption.

[via The Next Web]