The new algorithm purports to solve LWE with certain choices of parameters. LWE is the problem of solving a linear system of equations over a finite ring, where each equation has an additive error from a certain distribution.
McEliece has a public key that is a general linear code. A code is a bunch of linear equations constraining codewords, and codewords are vectors over a finite field, and decoding a code is solving those equations subject to errors from a given distribution. Sounds familiar?
They’re not the same problem, and the distributions are different in rather fundamental ways (which may or may not make a difference), but they are quite related. I would not move my eggs to the McEliece basket right now.
McEliece has a public key that is a general linear code. A code is a bunch of linear equations constraining codewords, and codewords are vectors over a finite field, and decoding a code is solving those equations subject to errors from a given distribution. Sounds familiar?
They’re not the same problem, and the distributions are different in rather fundamental ways (which may or may not make a difference), but they are quite related. I would not move my eggs to the McEliece basket right now.
Hash-based signatures sound as safe as ever.