ARDI🐜N

idcrypt - The rise of quantum computing has sparked deep discussions about the future of cryptography. Among the most debated topics is how secure current hashing algorithms, such as SHA-256, remain in a post-quantum world. While quantum algorithms like Shor’s can devastate public-key cryptography, Grover’s algorithm poses a subtler yet significant challenge to symmetric cryptographic systems. Contrary to popular fear, Grover’s algorithm does not fully break SHA-256 — it only reduces its effective security strength by half, leaving a still formidable level of resistance against attacks. At its core, SHA-256 is a one-way cryptographic hash function that produces a 256-bit output, making brute-force preimage attacks theoretically require 2²⁵⁶ operations using classical computing. The security of such a hash function relies on the infeasibility of finding any input that maps to a specific output within a realistic time frame. This exponential difficulty is why SHA-256 underpins major sy...