Public-key cryptosystems have been based on the difficulty of two number theory problems: factoring integers (in the case of RSA) or finding discrete logarithms (in the case of elliptic-curve cryptosystems).

In Polynomial-Time Algorithms for Prime Factorization and Discrete Logarithms on a Quantum Computer, Peter Shor shows that these problems can be solved in polynomial time on a quantum computer with a small probability of error.

If the only uses of quantum computation remain discrete logarithms and factoring, it will likely become a special-purpose technique whose only raison d'être is to thwart public key cryptosystems.”
— Peter Shor

The consequence of Shor’s algorithm is that industry-standard public-key cryptosystems — including RSA & ECDH which are used in TLS, the security protocol behind HTTPS — will easily be broken by quantum computers. NIST is in the process of standardizing public-key cryptography algorithms that are secure against quantum computers.

Once standardized, our aim at Evervault will be to accelerate the deployment of quantum-resistant cryptography to protect data across the web.