Public Key Cryptography Tutorial

Quantum crypotography

There is growing interest in using quantum cryptography for commercial and military applications because of the technology's apparent ability to guarantee invulnerability.

Before jumping into Quantum Cryptography's exciting possibilities, a person must understand what exactly this technology is and what exactly it does and could do soon.

Quantum cryptography uses quantum physics for secure communications. Unlike traditional cryptography, which employs various mathematical techniques to restrict eavesdroppers from learning the contents of encrypted messages, quantum cryptography is based on the physics of information. Eavesdropping can be viewed as measurements on a physical object — in this case the carrier of the information. Using quantum phenomena such as quantum superpositions or quantum entanglement one can design and implement a communication system which can always detect eavesdropping. This is because measurements on the quantum carrier of information disturbs it and therefore leaves traces.

Quantum crypotography R&D has been fast paced. According to the Technology Research Review -- 2004

A pair of security research developments made it apparent that quantum cryptography, unlike quantum computing, is within a few years of prime time. Quantum cryptography has the potential to provide perfectly secure communications.

On April 21, researchers from the University of Vienna in Austria, ARC Seibersdorf Research GmbH in Austria, the University of Munich in Germany, and the Austrian Academy of Sciences transferred a secret encryption key

And BBN Technologies, Harvard University and Boston University researchers built a six-node quantum cryptography network designed to operate continuously to provide a way to exchange secure keys between BBN, Harvard and Boston University. Previous quantum cryptography systems sported only point-to-point connections.

Quantum crypotography certainly has a bright future. Due to it's apparent invincibility, both commercial and military applications for this amazing new technology are exciting to think about.

Quantum crypotography