We’ve all read the books and seen the movies where the lead character makes reference to cracking or the inabability to crack quantum cryptography. Well, this article from Network World is rather intriguing. Apparently researchers at Northwestern University, in conjunction with BBN Technologies, have managed to come up with a quantum scheme and were able to demonstrate it in action.
“Quantum cryptography uses single photons of light to distribute keys to encrypt and decrypt messages. Because quantum particles are changed by any observation or measurement, even the simplest attempt at snooping on the network interrupts the flow of data and alerts administrators.”
Now, if this turned out to be in fact feasible it would be major leap forward. This technology involves the ability to provide key distribution. This follows on last years announcement of a “hack-proof quantum cryptography network“. It always is a concern when researchers/companies pull out the “hack proof” sticker and slap it on something they have built. That’s just asking for trouble.
[tags]Quantum Cryptography, Encryption, Key Distribution, Data Security[/tags]
