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| Illustrative hacker image via Shutterstock |
Scientists
have created a high-speed encryption system to stop hackers. It is based on an
existing technique called quantum key distribution. The new technique transmits
data 5-10 times faster than other methods.
A new high speed encryption system promises to stop hackers using the next super
Recent advances in quantum computers may soon
give hackers access to machines powerful enough to crack even the toughest of
standard internet security codes.
This will enable them to break codes and access
any online data making all systems from medical records to bank transactions
vulnerable to attack.
But scientists are using the same strange
properties that drive quantum computers to create hack-proof forms of quantum
data encryption.
The new system, developed by researchers from
Ohio State University, is capable of creating and distributing encryption codes
at megabit-per-second rates, which is five to 10 times faster than existing
methods.
And these quantum encryption techniques are
secure from common attacks, even in the face of equipment flaws that could open
up leaks.
Professor Daniel Gauthier, an author of the
study, said: 'We are now likely to have a functioning quantum computer that
might be able to start breaking the existing cryptographic codes in the near
future.
'We really need to be thinking hard now of
different techniques that we could use for trying to secure the internet.'
When we buy online, make a bank transaction or
share data like medical records, ciphers called encryption keys turn the data
so it cannot be read. Personal information sent over the web is first
scrambled using one of these keys, and then unscrambled by the receiver using
the same key.
But for this system to work, both parties must
have access to the same key, and it must be kept secret.
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The
new system, developed by researchers from Ohio State University, is capable of
creating and distributing encryption codes at megabit-per-second rates, which
is five to 10 times faster than existing methods (stock image)
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Quantum key distribution (QKD) takes advantage of
one of the fundamental properties of
quantum mechanics - measuring tiny bits of
matter like electrons or photons automatically changes their properties - to
exchange keys in a way that immediately alerts both parties to the existence of
a security breach.
Though QKD was first theorized in 1984 and
implemented shortly thereafter, the technologies to support its wide-scale use
are only now coming online.
Companies in Europe now sell laser-based systems
for QKD, and in a highly-publicised event last summer, China used a satellite
to send a quantum key to two land-based stations located 1,200 km apart.
But PhD candidate, Nurul Taimur Islam, explained
the problem with many of these systems is that they can only transmit keys at
relatively low rates - between tens to hundreds of kilobits per second - which
are too slow for most practical uses on the internet.
He said: 'At these rates, quantum-secure
encryption systems cannot support some basic daily tasks, such as hosting an
encrypted telephone call or video streaming.'
Like many QKD systems, Mr Islam's key transmitter
uses a weakened laser to encode information on individual photons of light.
But they found a way to pack more information onto
each photon, making their technique faster.
By adjusting the time at which the photon is
released, and a property of the photon called the phase, their system can
encode two bits of information per photon instead of one.
This trick, paired with high-speed detectors
powers their system to transmit keys five to 10 times faster than other
methods.
Prof Gauthier said: 'It was changing these
additional properties of the photon that allowed us to almost double the secure
key rate that we were able to obtain if we hadn't done that.'
In a perfect world, QKD would be perfectly secure
as any attempt to hack a key exchange would leave errors on the transmission
that could be easily spotted by the receiver.
But real-world implementations of QKD require
imperfect equipment, and these imperfections open up leaks that hackers can
exploit.
The researchers carefully characterized the
limitations of each piece of equipment they used.
Mr Islam said: 'We wanted to identify every
experimental flaw in the system, and include these flaws in the theory so that
we could ensure our system is secure and there is no potential side-channel
attack.
'All of this equipment, apart from the single-photon detectors, exist in the telecommunications industry, and with some engineering we could probably fit the entire transmitter and receiver in a box as big as a computer CPU.'
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Companies in Europe now
sell laser-based systems
for QKD, and in a
highly-publicised event last summer,
China used a satellite to
send a quantum key to two
land-based stations located 1,200 km apart
|
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