--- title: The NSA Is Building a Computer to Crack Almost Any Code | TIME description: In theory, the computer would be able to make calculations faster than any traditional computer. While this could compromise everything from home banking to state secrets, the nearly $80 million project hasn’t succeeded yet. canonical: https://time.com/video/w5OcM4jB/ og:title: The NSA Is Building a Computer to Crack Almost Any Code og:description: In theory, the computer would be able to make calculations faster than any traditional computer. While this could compromise everything from home banking to state secrets, the nearly $80 million project hasn’t succeeded yet. og:url: https://time.com/video/w5OcM4jB/ og:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/w5OcM4jB/poster.jpg?width=720 og:type: video.other twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The NSA Is Building a Computer to Crack Almost Any Code twitter:description: In theory, the computer would be able to make calculations faster than any traditional computer. While this could compromise everything from home banking to state secrets, the nearly $80 million project hasn’t succeeded yet. twitter:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/w5OcM4jB/poster.jpg?width=720 --- # The NSA Is Building a Computer to Crack Almost Any Code > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ## Video: The NSA Is Building a Computer to Crack Almost Any Code [Watch (HLS stream): The NSA Is Building a Computer to Crack Almost Any Code](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/w5OcM4jB.m3u8) (1:48)  _Published 2014-01-03. In theory, the computer would be able to make calculations faster than any traditional computer. While this could compromise everything from home banking to state secrets, the nearly $80 million project hasn’t succeeded yet._ --- Jul 27, 2023 4:04 PM UTC --- ## More From This Series [All Videos](https://time.com/video/) [President Trump Says He Answered Robert Mueller's Written Questions — But Hasn't Submitted Them Yet](/video/NVOMUD8p/) ### President Trump Says He Answered Robert Mueller's Written Questions — But Hasn't Submitted Them Yet [IBM Breaks 10nm Barrier For Faster, Lighter Computer Chips](/video/ke1u1OBW/) ### IBM Breaks 10nm Barrier For Faster, Lighter Computer Chips [Report: NSA Quantum Program Tapped Computers Not Connected To Internet](/video/HKPlouGx/) ### Report: NSA Quantum Program Tapped Computers Not Connected To Internet --- ## Transcript The NSA wants to build the most powerful computer ever. According to documents leaked to the Washington Post by Edward Snowden, the intelligence agency is investigating the viability of a, quote, cryptologically useful quantum computer. It's part of the NSA's Penetrating Hard Targets initiative in which the agency is investigating both the data gathering utility of quantum computing and what it would take to defend its own networks against such a device. As GigaOM explains, contemporary computers are limited by the binary nature of bits, which can be either 1 or 0. This means even the fastest computers can only compute in sequence, one process after another. But the bits in a quantum computer would in theory be simultaneously 1 and 0. Such a machine could make calculations and therefore crack inscriptions exponentially faster than its more traditional counterparts. The Washington Post report indicates all current public key inscription methods would be at risk potentially compromising everything, from home banking to state secrets. Of course such a machine only exists on paper. Even with a budget of nearly 80 million dollars, the NSA's researchers apparently haven't made any practical breakthroughs. Techdirt points out the program is thought to be on par with similar public programs in the civilian sector. Of the various leaks so far, this one definitely falls into the category of not that big of a deal. You'd pretty much expect the NSA to be working on project like this. It would be pretty difficult for the NSA to be particularly far ahead of anyone else on a big challenge like this one. For Time, I'm Lauren Zima. ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"The NSA Is Building a Computer to Crack Almost Any Code","description":"In theory, the computer would be able to make calculations faster than any traditional computer. 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