Quantum Computers And Chinese Whispers: Are Your Bitcoins Safe?

I read a whole bunch of stories about a Chinese quantum computer that can crack all of the internet’s security codes in seconds, or something like. I was sceptical, as Arthur Herman wrote here in Forbes, but not because I actually read the research or know anything about how quantum computers work. I was sceptical for a different reason.

To explain what this reason is, I need to take a few minutes of your time to tell you the story of the Zimmerman telegram, a story that is well known to military historians and computer security experts and for very good reasons.