4 October 2016

‘THE QUANTUM ENIGMA MACHINE’: UNBREAKABLE ENCRYPTION, UNHACKABLE COMMUNICATION, IS ONE STEP CLOSER TO BECOMING USABLE TECHNOLOGY


According to a September 27, 2016 article on the website, DEEPDOTWEB.com, and posted by American Guerrilla, the University of Rochester has begun work on what they call the Quantum Enigma Machine (QEM), which they claim will be impervious to hacking and provide unbreakable encryption. The QEM will also shorten encryption keys, and, make data interception than it already is,” according to the article.

“American mathematician, Claude Shannon, came up with a binary system that would allow him to transmit messages under three stipulations; The key is random; only used once; and it has to be as long as the message itself is,” the article added. “Recent studies show that scientists are theorizing that they could send a message with unbreakable encryption — with a key that is much shorter than the message itself. Their theory may soon be fact,” American Guerrilla claims, “as researchers have developed the quantum enigma machine.”

Seth Lloyd, a computer science professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), has concluded that “the theoretical machine…..could actually encrypt messages through the use of photons — the smallest particles in light. Professor Lloyd asserts that “the particles would carry the encrypted messages online — that use photons different variables for key generation.”

“Quantum data locking, uses light-waves features, unlike its binary brethren,” American Guerrilla writes. “Features that will decide key generation, and angle of tilt, wavelength, and amplitude. As these features are greater than the ones and zeros, the keys generated can now be shorter than the message itself.”

“The sender will use the machine to generate photons. They go through a spatial light modulator that transforms messages from unencrypted, to encrypted. Simply,” American Guerrilla writes, “this means that the features have been changed; and, the encrypted photon now appears scrambled — [and] that can only be unencrypted by the receiver on their own spatial light modulator (SLM). Their SLM would flatten, refocus, and translate the message for them.”

“While our device is not 100 percent secure, due to photon loss, it does show that data locking in message encryption is far more than a theory,” said team leader, Daniel Lum.

“Even with the discovery that Lum and his team have made, there is still a lot of work to be done — when it comes to cryptography and quantum physics,” American Guerrilla notes. “The team is working on integrating fiber optics into the machine.

It would seem that the quest to develop a fully integrated, unhackable network, and quantum encryption is accelerating, especially in the last two years to eighteen months. And, the U.S. isn’t necessarily in the lead; but, I would be happy to be corrected by one of my readers who is an expert in this field — as, I am not. Having said that, it is well known that China has made great strides with respect to unhackable encryption and, one suspects that Russia has as well.

In August, China launched the world’s first quantum spy/communications satellite — part of an overall pl-an/strategy by Beijing to develop a hack-proof communications and reconnaissance network. Of note, China’s military conducts wargames, military exercises in a degraded communications environment, and even sometimes, disconnected from the net altogether.

According to an August 16, 2016 article in The Hacker News, by Swati Khandelwal, “the 600-plus-kilogram Quantum Science Satellite, better known as Qunatum Experiments at Space Scale (QUESS) Satellite,” will now begin its 2-year mission and, “allow China to to conduct unprecedented levels of experiments in quantum communication — by sending entangled photons from the satellite to relay stations in China and Europe, which is separated by about 1,200 kilometers (746 miles).”

“This pioneering experiment will test if the spooky property of quantum entanglement can work at long distances,” Ms. Khandelwal wrote.

It would seem that quantum encryption, and unhackable technology is advancing much faster than Moore’s Law, and who knows where, and how this will end up. I believe it is imperative that the U.S. either lead in this area; and, avoid falling behind — but, I do not know where we stand; and, if we’re in danger of being eclipsed. If so, this should cause great concern. V/R, RCP

No comments: