Shor’s Algorithm: the bane of RSA

RSA encryption is a public-key encryption system. This means it has a public key, accessible to all, and a private key which is kept private. The public key is used for encryption, and only the private key can be used for decryption. The integrity of the system relies on the fact that the private key cannot be derived given the public key. The public key consists of a really big number N and another number e. The private key is denoted by d. Usually, N is a product of 2 very, very large prime numbers. These are called “RSA numbers”, given this moniker by original designers…...