Hall 3 · Exhibit 4 1 min
What Breaks vs. What Survives
A clear impact map for every cryptographic tool
AsymmetricRSA · ECC · DH · signatures — fully broken
SymmetricAES survives — upgrade 128 → 256
HashingSHA survives — modest speedup only
BlockchainWallet signatures become forgeable
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Breaks vs. Survives
Visual map of what falls to Shor's, weakens under Grover's, and survives intact.
When a is built, the internet's cryptographic tools divide cleanly into two categories. The asymmetric layer — key exchange, signatures, identity — is completely broken. The symmetric layer — bulk encryption and hashing — survives with minor upgrades.
| Category | Examples | Quantum Impact | Action Required |
|---|---|---|---|
| Asymmetric Encryption | RSA, ECC, Diffie-Hellman | Completely broken (Shor's) | Replace with PQC |
| Digital Signatures | RSA-PSS, ECDSA, EdDSA | Completely broken — forged signatures | Replace with ML-DSA / SLH-DSA |
| Key Exchanges | TLS (ECDHE, RSA transport) | All past & future sessions exposed | Deploy hybrid or pure PQC KEM |
| Symmetric Encryption | AES-128, AES-256 | Grover's halves key length | Upgrade AES-128 → AES-256 |
| Hashing | SHA-256, SHA-512 | Modest speedup only | Upgrade to SHA-384 / SHA-512 |
| Blockchain | Bitcoin/Ethereum wallets | Signatures forgeable | Migrate to PQC signatures |
Explore more in the atlas
Key Takeaways
- All asymmetric cryptography (RSA, ECC, DH, digital signatures) is completely broken by Shor's
- Symmetric cryptography (AES) and hashing (SHA) survive with key-size upgrades
- Blockchain wallet signatures are forgeable — ownership collapses without PQC migration