What happens if P=NP?

[nihil]

What happens if P=NP?

That's an easy one.............I take the proof to the Clay Mathematics Institute and collect the $1 million (USD) they are offering for the solution. I am afraid it will have to wait a bit though as I am still working on a quantitative solution to Fermat's Last Theorem

I was always taught that you should assume that any crypto algorithm can be cracked; some just take longer than others. That is the real issue IMO: is your encryption strong enough for your purpose?

In this matter you need to consider the usefulness of the data, its value or sensitivity, how much effort a potential attacker is prepared to devote to cracking it, and what time frame is involved. Basically this would be a part of your risk analysis.

At the end of the day you will still get back to the question of how the bad guys got hold of your data in the first place..............cryptography should not be your first line of defence.

Also, lawyers will have a field day. Since there are secure data laws, they will have to tell you what your legal risks are. Although the courts will most likely allow a grace period since it would jeopardize many companies to get back into compliance.

I am not aware of any European legislation that even mandates encryption, let alone the algorithms to be used. This isn't surprising given that lawyers and courts don't "do" complex mathematics They also avoid IT technical issues where possible.

The issue will be the same as it is now...............did you practice due diligence? In Europe at least, we haven't reached the stage where the victim is the criminal So long as you have taken reasonable steps to secure your data you will not be blamed for the criminal being smarter than you.

EDIT:

should you have to react to P=NP

Nobody will................it is irrelevant because it is simply a mathematical concept rather than an actual compromise. I am not really concerned if it would take someone with the resources of the CIA 500 years to crack my data rather than 5,000.

1. They still have to get their hands on the data.
2. They have to crack it whilst it is still of value.

In real life, not many data are encrypted, other than whilst in transit. Changing your data transmission encryption method is not going to cause any kind of global meltdown, as it is pretty much transparent.