Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Australian Gov't May Employ a Homegrown Quantum Key System

Posted by timothy on from the lasers-spin-counterclockwise-there dept.

mask.of.sanity writes "The Australian government is trialling a new Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) system built by Aussie scientists. QKD is considered the world's toughest security because the slightest attempt to intercept the one time keys, coded into lasers at the quantum level, will disrupt the beam. The technology differs from current cryptography tech primarily because it's cheap. Well, less than the $US100k price tag of rival systems. It uses off-the-shelf networking gear instead of proprietary technology, and is built on open standards, so it's easier to install. The random key is encoded at the quantum level in the sidebeam in the phase and amplitude, or brightness and colour, of a highly tuned laser beam. The creators, who built the system in part for their Ph.Ds, said it can be used to transport the most sensitive data like critical infrastructure and secret commercial IP. The days of hand-delivered security keys are numbered."

20 of 141 comments (clear)

  1. Quantum Leap by d3ac0n · · Score: 2, Funny

    So... you could say the Aussie scientists have taken a Quantum Leap in cryptography for the AU?

    *rimshot*

    Thank you, I'll be here all night! Remember to tip your waitress!

    --
    Official Heretic from the "Church of Global Warming". Proven right thanks to whistle blowers. AGW = Flat Earth Theory
    1. Re:Quantum Leap by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      I hear that the technology is called "Key Order Assignment by Laser Application".

    2. Re:Quantum Leap by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      Instead of using the Qantas the airline they could use Quantas to teleport stuff.

      Also remember to try the veal.

    3. Re:Quantum Leap by RichardJenkins · · Score: 5, Funny

      No, from what I understand the system involves strapping a key to a shark who'll swim it to the recipient. The friggin' laser shoots anyone trying to intercept it, thereby guaranteeing security.

      Sharks with friggin laser beams have become more adundant as of late, which is why they can do this so cheaply.

    4. Re:Quantum Leap by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      We don't tip in australia. We pay our waitresses enough in base wages.

    5. Re:Quantum Leap by TimSSG · · Score: 5, Funny

      Some puns are just unbearable. Tim S

    6. Re:Quantum Leap by BiggerIsBetter · · Score: 4, Funny

      Quantum leap: (adj.) literally, to move by the smallest amount theoretically possible. In advertising, to move by the largest leap imaginable (in the mind of the advertiser). There is no contradiction.

      - Tonkin's First Computer Dictionary

      "Quantum Leap": (1989) Scientist Sam Beckett finds himself trapped in time--"leaping" into the body of a different person in a different time period each week.

      - The Internet Movie Database

      --
      Forget thrust, drag, lift and weight. Airplanes fly because of money.
  2. Quoth Schrodinger by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    The days of hand-delivered security keys are numbered

    ...but we can't tell you exactly how long you'll have to wait.

  3. Quantum Key + Internet Filter? by Narnie · · Score: 5, Funny

    So... are the scientists that frustrated with the Aussie internet filter that they're employing a quantum key encryption system just so they can get their porn?

    --
    greed@All_Evils:~#
  4. Great for them! by nog_lorp · · Score: 2, Funny

    Now the Australian government can finally protect their communications from the myriad foreign governments trying to spy on their communications!

    Oh, wait...

    1. Re:Great for them! by ozbird · · Score: 2, Funny

      More likely, now Australian scientists can protect their communications from the proposed Internet filter.

  5. Re:as long as there is no... by Toe,+The · · Score: 2, Funny

    You're forgetting how government bureaucracy works. It would be something more like:

    An interception event may have been detected. Do you wish to give permission to avoid preventing continuance?
    Acknowledge - Defer

  6. You can't read my thesis! by CrypticKev · · Score: 4, Funny
    The creators, who built the system in part for their Ph.Ds

    They will encrypt their thesis with it. If ever decrypted, their doctorates will be revoked!

  7. attn: /. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    for the love of god stop calling us aussies

    do you call yourselves yanks? no?

    fucking cut it out.

  8. Phase != color by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    yeah. the human eye doesn't perceive phase: the wavelength or frequency is color, but good luck finding a macro-world equivalent to phase.

  9. Re:obligatory movie quote by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    There is no spoon.

  10. All this to protect a blacklist by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Now no-one will figure out which IP's are blocked HAHAHAHAHA! *evil*

    -zifr

  11. Re:All I want to know is... by fractoid · · Score: 4, Funny

    Yes, but like any quantum cryptography method, it's still vulnerable to a SITM (Shark In The Middle) attack.

    --
    Rampant carbon sequestration destroyed the Dinosaurs' tropical paradise. I'm here to help repair the damage.
  12. Obligatory Futurama... by Samah · · Score: 3, Funny

    Professor Farnsworth: No fair! You changed the outcome by measuring it!
    http://futurama.wikia.com/wiki/The_Luck_of_the_Fryrish

    --
    Homonyms are fun!
    You're driving your car, but they're riding their bikes there.
  13. Re:Cryptography... by gandhi_2 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Spoken like someone who has neither held a gun, nor a human head, let alone at the same time, while interrogating a cryptographer, in Australia.

    How does one answer that question with respect to a 10 gig fiber connection? How fast can you say ones and zeros?

    I'm pretty sure firearms are an OSI layer 1 problem.

    --
    THL phish sticks