XJTLU team sets code-breaking record for testing post-quantum online security

SUZHOU, China, March 7, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- On 4 March, a research team led by Professor Jintai Ding, Dean of the School of Mathematics and Physics at Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University (XJTLU), set a new code-breaking world record for the Lattice Shortest Vector Problem (SVP) in the International Open Darmstadt SVP Challenge. This marks a significant achievement in strengthening cybersecurity in the age of quantum computing.

The rapid advancement of quantum computing technology poses a serious threat to the current encryption methods used for e-commerce, telecommunications and digital signatures. Finding alternative encryption solutions has, therefore, become a global priority. Lattice SVP-based cryptography has been identified as a promising next-generation cryptographic standard capable of safeguarding sensitive data from quantum computer attacks.

To address vulnerabilities in cryptographic standards, the cryptography community established the global SVP challenge in 2010, attracting leading mathematicians and computer scientists worldwide to explore the limits of lattice SVP.

Professor Ding says: "From a research perspective, our new record for solving the problem enhances our understanding of lattice-based cryptography's security foundations, providing empirical evidence to inform future post-quantum cryptographic standards."

"In practical terms, it helps security experts more accurately assess the boundaries of existing cryptographic systems and guide the development of secure digital infrastructure."

"The security of lattice-based cryptography fundamentally depends on the computational difficulty of solving the SVP," explains Professor Ding. "The problem's difficulty can be increased by raising the number of dimensions of the lattice. The more dimensions there are, the harder it becomes to solve, thereby enhancing the system's security."

With the new record, Professor Ding's team has successfully solved the SVP for 200 dimensions, the highest dimension currently supported for submission on the SVP Challenge website.

"Each additional 10 dimensions increases the computational difficulty by roughly an order of magnitude," says Professor Ding. "A decade ago, the record stood at about 130 dimensions and reaching 200 dimensions seemed almost impossible. Yet today, we've solved it with relatively modest academic computing resources. This represents not only technological progress but also a triumph of human ingenuity."

Professor Ding notes that current cryptographic standards would become vulnerable if SVP problems of around 400 dimensions could be solved, potentially compromising global digital infrastructure.

He says: "Solving the 200-dimensional SVP problem not only showcases XJTLU's research strength at the forefront of cryptography but also provides important references for global lattice-based cryptographic security research."

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