美顶尖科学家警告说：要小心量子攻击
科学家警告说，量子计算的前景令人兴奋，但也带来了一系列新的风险。
Specifically, the enormous power of the tech could be used to crack the best cyber security we currently have in place.
具体而言，该技术的强大威力可被用于破解当前的网络安全系统。
A new report on the "progress and prospects" of quantum computing put together by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) in the US says that work should start now on putting together algorithms to beat the bad guys.
在美国国家科学院、工程学院和医学院(NASEM)委员会新近提交的报告《量子计算的进展和前景》中说，现在就应该开始制定预案来防范可能的量子袭击。
The worry is that the vast processing power could be used to break the public-key encryption that we currently rely on in all kinds of ways – from protecting our private messaging app conversations to ensuring a secure connection to banking websites.
最令人担心的是，量子计算机巨大的计算能力可被用于破解我们目前极度依赖的公钥加密系统——从我们的私人消息应用对话到与银行网站的安全连接，全部的安全性都依赖公钥加密系统。
"While defeating currently deployed public-key encryption using the best available conventional computer is effectively impossible, a quantum computer could potentially perform this task in no more than a few hours," explains the press release accompanying the NASEM report.
“即使利用最强大的传统计算机，破解公钥加密系统实际上也是不可能完成的任务，但量子计算机理论上能够在数小时内完成。”NASEM在报告附带的新闻稿中如此解释道。
Encryption essentially encodes data so it looks like nonsense to anyone not authorised to see it. The math problems required to beat it are virtually impossible to solve by today's computing standards, which is why it's used so widely.
加密本质上是对数据进行编码，因此对于未经授权的人来说，它看起来就像是天书。现有的计算力无法破解其中封装着的核心数学问题，这就是加密系统被广泛使用的原因。
However, the NASEM experts recommend that preparations for quantum-level attacks should start now.
然而，NASEM专家建议，现在应该开始着手应对可能的量子级攻击。
If you think about just how many systems rely on digital communications and encryption, including phone networks and electricity grids, it's clear that any successful quantum cyber attack is going to cause some serious problems.
毕竟，考虑到公钥加密的使用范围，包括通信网络乃至电网，任何量子网络攻击都会造成严重的后果。
Even if there's not much to interest hackers in your emails, government and military secrets are at risk of being exposed, too.
就算顶级黑客不关心普通个人的隐私，政府和军事机密也有泄密的风险。
And the report does emphasize that the benefits of quantum computing are likely to outweigh the security risks. Progress in fields like quantum gravity and artificial intelligence could be rapidly sped up with these new machines.
该报告同时强调，量子计算带来的益处超过了可能的安全风险。不管是人工智能，还是强大的计算分析能力，都对我们的生活具有重大的意义。
While we have what are called quantum computers in the world today, they're really just early first steps. As exciting and as promising as they are, they require very particular environments to work, and only have a very limited amount of practical use.
今天所谓的量子计算机，实际上只是最粗陋的原型。尽管令人兴奋且充满希望，但它们需要非常特殊的环境才能正常运转，并且实际功能有限。
In fact, there's still some debate as to whether we'll ever get to the stage where quantum computers can ever become genuinely useful tools, reliable and accessible enough to be helpful outside specialised laboratories.The NASEM committee is confident.
事实上，对于我们是否能够开发出具有真正使用价值的量子计算这一问题，目前依然存在着争论。不过，NASEM委员会对此充满信心。
"There has been remarkable progress in the field of quantum computing, and the committee doesn't see a fundamental reason why a large, functional quantum computer could not be built in principle," says the committee chair Mark Horowitz, from Stanford University in California.
“我们在量子计算领域取得了长足的进展，委员会没有看到原则上无法开发出功能性量子计算机的决定性论据。”加州斯坦福大学委员会主席Mark Horowitz说。 。
"However, many technical challenges remain to be resolved before we reach this milestone."
“然而，在我们达到终点之前，前方仍有许多技术难题需要解决。”
