‘Quantum supremacy’ and the threat it poses to data storage, digital economy

NEW DELHI: If data is the new oil, encryption is the engine that drives the digital economy. Everything from credit card transactions to health data stored on wearable devices is secured by cryptography. These complex algorithms, in turn, facilitate the safe use of the profusion of data generated every day.

The road to digitisation seems clear, but speedbumps abound. Last week, a team of researchers at Google claimed to have achieved ‘quantum supremacy,’ a major milestone in computer science.