Information Security News: Scientists Find Cheaper Way to Ensure Internet Security

[InfoSec News <alerts () infosecnews org>]

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/20/technology/fiber-optic-breakthrough-to-improve-internet-security-cheaply.html

By JOHN MARKOFF
The New York Times
November 20, 2012

Scientists at Toshiba and Cambridge University have perfected a 
technique that offers a less expensive way to ensure the security of the 
high-speed fiber optic cables that are the backbone of the modern 
Internet.
The research, which will be published Tuesday in the science journal 
Physical Review X, describes a technique for making infinitesimally 
short time measurements needed to capture pulses of quantum light hidden 
in streams of billions of photons transmitted each second in data 
networks. Scientists used an advanced photodetector to extract weak 
photons from the torrents of light pulses carried by fiber optic cables, 
making it possible to safely distribute secret keys necessary to 
scramble data over distances up to 56 miles.
Such data scrambling systems will most likely be used first for 
government communications systems for national security. But they will 
also be valuable for protecting financial data and ultimately all 
information transmitted over the Internet.
The approach is based on quantum physics, which offers the ability to 
exchange information in a way that the act of eavesdropping on the 
communication would be immediately apparent. The achievement requires 
the ability to reliably measure a remarkably small window of time to 
capture a pulse of light, in this case lasting just 50 picoseconds — the 
time it takes light to travel 15 millimeters.
[...]

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