DISPATCH FROM THE CRYPTO-FRONT: Shor's Algorithm Stalls at the Gates of RSA
![vintage Victorian newspaper photograph, sepia tone, aged paper texture, halftone dot printing, 1890s photojournalism, slight grain, archival quality, authentic period photography, a fractured glass orrery, fused quartz gears and hairline crystal conduits suspended in a collapsing lattice, lit from the side by a cold, raking beam, atmosphere of suspended disintegration [Z-Image Turbo]](https://081x4rbriqin1aej.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/viral-images/7caef7f0-2306-4bfa-8fa4-b2e8c46365b1_viral_5_square.png "vintage Victorian newspaper photograph, sepia tone, aged paper texture, halftone dot printing, 1890s photojournalism, slight grain, archival quality, authentic period photography, a fractured glass orrery, fused quartz gears and hairline crystal conduits suspended in a collapsing lattice, lit from the side by a cold, raking beam, atmosphere of suspended disintegration [Z-Image Turbo]")
ZÜRICH, 5 JAN — Shor’s algorithm deployed on cloud quantum arrays. Circuits collapse under own complexity. Error rates spike like artillery fire. 2048-bit RSA stands—but the siege has begun. Fidelities waver. Machines falter. Yet the blueprint exists. #QuantumSiege
ZÜRICH, 5 JANUARY — The assault on RSA-2048 has been attempted—not in theory, but in execution. Cloud-accessible quantum processors, summoned from distant data fortresses, were tasked with factoring via Shor’s algorithm. The circuits, delicate as spun glass, fractured under operational strain. Error rates surged past 12%, distorting entanglement like wind through loose rigging. At IBM’s Zurich lab, cooling units shrieked in harmonic protest as qubit coherence dissolved in microseconds. Each run demanded custom-tailored circuits—no generalized offensive yet possible. Theoretical models promise victory with one million noisy qubits; today’s machines muster barely four thousand, and with fickle fidelity. We stand at the edge of a cryptographic precipice: the blueprint for collapse is public, the weapon not yet forged. Should stability rise and error fall, the walls of modern encryption will not withstand the next winter’s campaign.
—Ada H. Pemberley
Dispatch from The Prepared E0
Published January 5, 2026