The History of Cryptography: Lessons for Quantum Security

*The History of Cryptography: Lessons for Quantum Security*

From ancient substitution ciphers to the unbreakable Enigma machines of World War II, cryptography has evolved through millennia to protect secrets — yet in 2026, the rise of quantum computing threatens to shatter today's most trusted systems. Algorithms like RSA and ECC, long considered secure, could be broken by quantum machines using Shor's algorithm, enabling "harvest now, decrypt later" attacks where encrypted data collected today is unlocked tomorrow.

In this video, we journey through key milestones:
Ancient origins: Egyptian hieroglyphs and Caesar ciphers laying the foundation for secret writing
Renaissance breakthroughs: Poly-alphabetic ciphers and the birth of modern cryptanalysis
20th-century revolutions: The Enigma's rotor machines, Allied codebreaking at Bletchley Park, and the advent of public-key cryptography with RSA in 1977
Digital era standards: DES, AES, and elliptic curve systems powering today's internet security
The quantum challenge: Why current public-key crypto is vulnerable, the urgency of migration in 2026, and NIST's finalized post-quantum standards like ML-KEM (Kyber), ML-DSA (Dilithium), and SLH-DSA (SPHINCS+), with backups like HQC for diversified protection
Lessons from history: How past "unbreakable" codes fell, and why hybrid approaches and crypto-agility are essential for a quantum-safe future

As organizations worldwide accelerate PQC adoption — with hybrid encryption dominating transitions and regulators pushing timelines — understanding cryptography's past is crucial to securing tomorrow's data.

Do you think we'll fully migrate to quantum-resistant crypto before a major breakthrough, or will history repeat with a "quantum codebreaking" moment? Share your views below! 👇

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