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Quantum Encryption Via Satellite

Posted by michael on from the schroedinger's-email dept.

Jeff Scarpace writes: "The Economist is reporting that last week, at the International Conference on Quantum Information in Rochester, New York, physicists from the Los Alamos National Laboratories in New Mexico explained how to build a system that will broadcast uncrackable messages via satellite."

5 of 113 comments (clear)

  1. To paraphrase Doctor Who by graveyhead · · Score: 4


    DW: I never cared much for the term "uncrackable", it seems a bit too much like "unsinkable".

    Brigadier: What's wrong with "unsinkable"?

    DW: "Nothing," said the iceberg to the Titanic [glug glug glug]

    Well, your fingers weave quick minarets; Speak in secret alphabets;

    --
    std::disclaimer<std::legalese> sig=new std::disclaimer; sig->dump(); delete sig;
  2. Two reasons why this isn't big by Sheepdot · · Score: 5

    There are two big problems I have with this "new" technology.

    1) It isn't anywhere near feasible for common use, nor cheap enough.

    2) We already have "pretty good privacy". It's not the best, but it is sufficient and now we need to work on the next big step: securing both ends.

    I think we've pretty much covered the encryption news to death and left out some of the big stuff, the compromising of a machine on either end of the communication.

    What good does a secure method of communication do when the website you are dealing with stores your credit card info in clear text databases on machines 4 different crackers have access too?

    What good is securing a transmission with a customer when their Windows box is already compromised by a Subseven server?

    I guess what my biggest beef with secure communication overkill like this is that we've already determined it is possible to secure a transmission. We haven't determined how to properly secure both the client and the server.

  3. hmmm.... by 3-State+Bit · · Score: 4

    methinks I remember an unbreakable cryptosystem, also via satellite. This piece does not mention Professor Rabin.
    ~

  4. Quantum crypto to find NSA goons? by corvi42 · · Score: 4
    So this technique would allow you to know whether anyone was intercepting photons as they passed through a given medium. Has anyone thought of using this technique to positively identify whether anyone is really tapping underwater fiber optics like this old article suggested.

    It would be funny if the latest thing in crypto was able to catch the NSA with their pants down.

    --

    There are a thousand forms of subversion, but few can equal the convenience and immediacy of a cream pie -Noel Godin
  5. Not New, but Important by qxjit · · Score: 4

    While this kind of quantum cryptograhy has been around for awhile, the article is correct in stating that such expiraments have only been done across wires until this point. The really neat thing about this is that it really is safe. These technologies do not rely on security through obscurity in any way. The key is sent quantumly, and cannot be intercepted without breaking the quantum entanglement of the particles. Once a secure key has been transmitted, it does need to be protected within the software, but that is much easier than protecting is as it flies through the air. The security of the key as it is transmitted is protected by the laws of physics, which is what makes this so secure. While there is no silver bullet to the problem at hand, this solves fundamental problem of keys being sniffed during transit without anyone knowing. From here there are a lot of other problems to solve, but its a big step toward secure transmissions in the open.

    --
    Windows is more convenient than Linux just as having an ingrown toenail is more convenient than seeing a podiatrist.