Quantum Resistant vs Classical Cryptography

Number theory has had a special relationship with cryptography since the mid-seventies when the Diffie-Hellman and RSA algorithms were published. With the existence of a quantum computer becoming more of a possibility, the study of quantum resistant cryptography (i.e. cryptography that remains strong in the presence of algorithms run on a hypothetical quantum computer) has become increasingly important. In this talk we’ll meet the familiar old guard of public key cryptography before surveying several of the major proposals for quantum resistant public key cryptography. Particular attention will be paid to:

a)      Primitives with a number theoretic flavour; and

b)      Areas that are still missing something.