Using quantum encryption methods will break existing ciphers but will also allow us to develop new encryption measures against government eavesdropping, say researchers who published an article in Nature last Thursday
The recognition of the surveillance power of the NSA and of similar bodies in the world has illuminated the field of security - or rather the lack of security - of our digital communications.
Even the most encrypted information is vulnerable to technological development. And yet is it possible to maintain privacy in this hacked world? In the March 27 issue of the journal Nature, researchers Arthur Eckert from the Center for Quantum Technologies at the National University of Singapore and Renato Renner from the ETH Institute in Switzerland write which physical means will allow us to keep the secrets.
In the history of secret communications, the efforts of the most brilliant code writers have repeatedly clashed with the patience of code breakers. Sometimes we anticipate this. We know that one of the strongest and most widely used encryptions today, RSA will become insecure once a quantum computer is built.
"But the circle doesn't have to last forever. "The latest developments in the field of quantum cryptography show that privacy will be possible under a weak assumption about the freedom of action we have and the reliability of the device we use," says Eckert, professor of quantum physics at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom and director of the Center for Quantum Technologies at the National University of Singapore where he also holds a chair.
Over 20 years ago, Eckert and others independently proposed a way to use the quantum properties of light particles to share secret keys for encrypted communication. The key was a random sequence of zeros and ones, derived from randomly choosing how to measure the particles (and a few extra steps), to encrypt the message. In an article published this week in Nature, Eckert Werner explains how quantum cryptography has since developed into completely new commercial directions and theoretical areas.
"Although privacy depends on randomness and trust, the most surprising thing about their findings is that we can communicate freely even if we have limited trust in the cryptographic device - imagine that we purchase them from our enemy, and in our abilities to make a free choice - when the enemy tries to manipulate us. Given access to several types of correlations, whether of quantum origin or not, and with a little free will we can protect ourselves. Furthermore, we can defend ourselves against adversaries with superior and unknown technology."
"The more completely unpredictable our choices are, the more we can keep our secrets," says Renner, professor of theoretical physics at the ETZ in Zurich, Switzerland. This field grew out of a mathematical discovery by Renner and his colleagues of "increasing randomness". They discovered that a quantum trick can turn some types of small random numbers into completely random numbers. The heat can be applied in cryptography where such methods can give us back the ability to make more random decisions and guarantee confidentiality even if someone is manipulating us."
"Besides this discovery being one of the most important scientific developments of recent years, the issue of encryption has come out of the shadows. It is no longer crazy to talk about these issues today" says Eckert, who has worked and advised several companies and government agencies.
The semi-popular article cites 68 papers and studies ranging from Edgar Allan Fe's writings on cryptography in 1841 through the foundational papers of the field of quantum cryptography in 1984 and 1991 to the abundance of eavesdropping evidence in 2013.
The researchers conclude that "the day when we stop being afraid of encryption service providers that cannot be trusted is not so far away."
18 תגובות
Like common talkbacks, you like to establish facts even when you don't understand. Cavity encryption already exists today and there are even commercial devices that work on the EPR principle.
Water blowing
Can you tell when you will quit your stupidity?
Mr. Vinci, there is a bit of a difference in quantum encryption, you can see if someone is being quoted because the particles stabilize on the test of the quoted person and collapse back in time and the person who is encrypting can see that they are listening
Honi
One of the uses of quantum encryption is for key transfer. The idea is that the information can be read only once, so you know with someone who listened to the communication.
Honi
It works like classic encryption.
The difference is in the amount of encrypted values.
Quantum encryption uses more (physical) values than classical encryption.
Does anyone have any idea how quantum encryption works? After all, this is a probabilistic model, so how do you encrypt and decrypt?
The main use of quantum cryptography today is:
To receive research budgets for doctoral students and academic publications
safkan
You are absolutely right that for most uses, there are good enough encryption methods, and the problem is really the human factor.
It is true that a long enough secret key cannot be cracked. But - the problem of transferring the key to the other side remains. And if you have a way to transfer the key to the other side, then transfer the message itself, without encryption.
Beyond that - you cannot use the same key again and again, because then it is relatively easy to break the encryption.
To prevent this - there is a method of encryption with a public key. The problem is that these methods are complex, it is difficult to prove their level of encryption, and worst of all - you don't know if the NSA doesn't have a method to hack them...
The message is being sent again because something went wrong with the text.
Quantum encryption is only for the paranoid, what's more, it is currently only theoretical and it is doubtful that it will ever be realized.
Normal (strong) encryption is sufficient for all practical purposes, provided the encryptor does not choose a trivial key (=trivial password). Even a trivial key problem can in principle be overcome without much difficulty by scrambling under a master key known only to the encryptor (master, because the scrambling uses a complicated key, this is the only complicated key that the encryptor needs to remember or keep in a safe place). The scrambler converts a simple password into a complicated password that is difficult to crack.
The main problem with encryption is not because of their level of difficulty but because of the human factor: we understand, the tendency of some people to not keep secret information well, failure to keep confidentiality in behavior is the cause of information leakage. For example: even if someone has the most complicated password in the world and leaves it on the table in plain sight, the password will be stolen and the encryption exposed.
There is no secret that time does not reveal, and with all due respect you can still play time replays
point
Are you willing to post your credit card number here, including the code on the back of the card?
Do you think it is appropriate to publicize Israel's detection capabilities?
What is happening with quantum computers, is there any progress?
We have heard so many promises and announcements about it in recent years...
When will we see a working quantum computer?
No miracles, I maintain that any kind of information hiding is related to corruption or cheating.
I am in favor of freedom of information and knowledge.
point
The need for encryption does not stem from governmental corruption (I assume that's what you mean).
Beyond that - encryption protects the individual just as it protects any corrupt person. And especially - it protects the individual from the corrupt government 🙂
I have no solution.
point
You remind me of an episode of The Simpsons. Lisa gets her wish - world peace. Then, 2 aliens come and conquer the world.
At least they understood that the idea did not make sense. How do you propose to handle Iran? North Korea? All those who want to steal your credit card? Read your email? Access your bank account? Virus protection on your computer?
What is your suggestion to solve all these - so that we don't need encryption? Everyone will be happy to hear 🙂
Instead of treating corruption, it is protected with encryption.