Big Brother is getting bigger.
The National Security Agency is hard at work on a computer that could break nearly every kind of encryption used to protect banking, medical, business and government records around the world.
According to documents unloaded by leaker Edward Snowden, the loose-lipped former NSA contractor, the agency is secretly developing a “quantum computer”that would be able to bypass secure Web sites, including those hosted by foreign governments.
“The application of quantum technologies to encryption algorithms threatens to dramatically impact the US government’s ability to both protect its communications and eavesdrop on the communications of foreign governments,” according to an internal document provided by Snowden.
The documents provided by Snowden to The Washington Post said the NSA is carrying out some of its research in room-size metal boxes, secure against electromagnetic leaks.
A quantum computer can make calculations at speeds much faster than a regular computer.