An interesting developement in crypto. Should change the face of secured wirless networks eventually.
BBN announced yesterday that it was deploying the first wireless quantum cryptography network in Boston, enabling "keys or communications to be transmitted securely through the air as well as through its existing fiber-based network under the streets of Cambridge, Mass.," according to this press release
BBN Technologies Adds Wireless Capability to World's First Continuously Operating Quantum Cryptography Network; Partnership with QinetiQ Extends DARPA Quantum Network into the Skies
CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 1, 2005--BBN Technologies, an advanced technology and research and development firm, announced today that the world's first operational quantum cryptography network--funded by the Department of Defense's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)--has now expanded to include its first free space link, enabling quantum keys or communications to be transmitted securely through the air as well as through its existing fiber-based network under the streets of Cambridge, Mass. Supplied by global defense technology and security company QinetiQ Ltd in the UK, this free-space link is operating 24/7.
Free-space quantum cryptography allows the DARPA Quantum Network to expand quickly into areas without fiber cables and ultimately could enable it to perform quantum cryptography to aircraft, automobiles, and boats. A free space link has previously been demonstrated by QinetiQ to be capable of transmitting secure data over a distance of approximately 15 miles, but next-generation free space links will uniquely enable the QCN to transmit securely around the globe via satellite. QinetiQ developed the system with a standard interface to operate with the BBN-supplied quantum cryptography algorithms and software.
I recall the first transaction with such technology last year in Europe between two banks. Completely tamper proof so long as the key is safe, and that's a guarantee thanks to the laws of nature, not some dodgy salesman.
Captain tycho wrote:I remember reading about this a few years ago in a cryptography book, but for the life of me I can't remember any details about it.
Cursed lack of edit button.
Supposedly, these 'quantum' keys were supposed to be literally unbreakable.
Something to do with the way the light was polarized, and how the reciever was configured. Fascinating stuff.
Captain Tycho! The worst fucker ever!
The Best reciever ever!
Captain tycho wrote:I remember reading about this a few years ago in a cryptography book, but for the life of me I can't remember any details about it.
[img=right]http://hem.bredband.net/b217293/warsaban.gif[/img] "Either God wants to abolish evil, and cannot; or he can, but does not want to. ... If he wants to, but cannot, he is impotent. If he can, but does not want to, he is wicked. ... If, as they say, God can abolish evil, and God really wants to do it, why is there evil in the world?" -Epicurus
Fear is the mother of all gods.
Nature does all things spontaneously, by herself, without the meddling of the gods. -Lucretius
Admiral Valdemar wrote:I recall the first transaction with such technology last year in Europe between two banks. Completely tamper proof so long as the key is safe, and that's a guarantee thanks to the laws of nature, not some dodgy salesman.
Well, it isn't tamper-proof but it is tamper-evident.
phongn wrote:
Well, it isn't tamper-proof but it is tamper-evident.
If you intercept the transmission and don't have the key, the waveform breaks down. The only way you can really do anything other than jam this, which would negate fraud anyway which is the primary reason for such a system, is if you had a mole to get the key at one end.
phongn wrote:
Well, it isn't tamper-proof but it is tamper-evident.
If you intercept the transmission and don't have the key, the waveform breaks down. The only way you can really do anything other than jam this, which would negate fraud anyway which is the primary reason for such a system, is if you had a mole to get the key at one end.
Well as our Information Assurance people here alway tells us the greatest threat is from the inside.
