Digital forensics relies on a chain of custody (CoC) to protect evidence. If a defense attorney can show that a log file was edited after collection, the case can fall apart. For the past 30 years, we’ve used standard hashing (SHA-256) and symmetric/asymmetric encryption (RSA) to prove the integrity of evidence.
But time is running out. Traditional asymmetric encryption methods (like RSA and ECC) face obsolescence due to the rapid advancement of quantum computers. A sufficiently powerful quantum computer running Shor’s algorithm could theoretically forge digital signatures, breaking the CoC retroactively.