What challenges do quantum computers pose to traditional cryptography methods, and how does post-quantum cryptography aim to counter these threats?

Quantum computers pose a significant threat to traditional cryptography methods, such as RSA and ECC, which rely on the computational difficulty of problems like integer factorization and discrete logarithms—tasks that quantum computers can solve efficiently using algorithms like Shor’s algorithm. Post-quantum cryptography develops new cryptographic systems based on problems believed to be difficult for both classical and quantum computers, such as lattice-based cryptography, hash-based cryptography, and multivariate cryptographic algorithms.