Quantum Leap: cryptography of the future
of reading the message will change it. This will introduce cryptography was used to secure the transfer of money
errors which the receiver will detect when decoding the between Vienna City Hall and Bank Austria Creditanstalt
6
.
(changed) message. In 2007 the Swiss government (an organisation with an
interest in showing their ability to keep information private),
As with public key encryption, quantum cryptography is reported that they had used quantum cryptography to
used to solve the key exchange problem and establish a protect the transfer of ballots in the Geneva area
7
.
secure channel. It also has the benefit that it guarantees
that the message hasn’t been intercepted, something In comparison, the limited demonstrations given by
that isn’t possible with current encryption technologies. D-Wave, (the only commercial quantum computing firm)
have raised more questions than they have answered.
QUANTUM FUTURES Most observers continue to believe that a practical
Until recently most commentators felt that existing quantum computer is many years away, giving financial
cryptography methods were safe from the threat of services organisations time to sit back and watch
quantum computing for at least a decade. The work by developments before they plan their response.
D-Wave has unsettled that assumption, but quantum
cryptography still appears to be further advanced than But predicting technology futures is art, not a science. In
quantum computing and has been proven in the real 1932 one scientist argued that “there is not the slightest
world. Numerous demonstrations have been shown in indication that nuclear energy will ever be obtainable. It
commercial settings, including to the Bank of England would mean that the atom would have to be shattered at
and Department of Trade and Industry in 2005. The will.” Two years later Enrico Fermi accomplished nuclear
science minister, Lord Sainsbury, stated that “Quantum fission, laying the foundations for nuclear power and
cryptography is now in cost range and therefore banks proving the original commentator, Albert Einstein, wrong.
should be looking at it”
5
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1 L aura Ost, 307 975-4034, United States National Institute of Standards and
Technology, May 2005
http://www.nist.gov/public_affairs/releases/fourier.htm
Several commercial organisations are active in the 2 DWave News, Quantum computing company, February 2008
quantum cryptography market. Three leading firms are
http://www.dwavesys.com/index.php?mact=News,cntnt01,detail,0&cntnt01article
id=4&cntnt01returnid=21
idQuantique based in Switzerland, Qinetiq in the UK and
3 Chris Maxcer, TechNewsWorld, February 2007
Magiq in the USA. All offer off-the-shelf products which
http://www.technewsworld.com/story/55801.html?welcome=1208099956
can function over standard fibre optic networks. As might
4 Geordie, Rose.blog, January 2007
http://dwave.wordpress.com/2007/01/19/quantum-computing-demo-
be expected in the world of security, their customers announcement/
like to remain anonymous, but they are believed to be
5 John Riley, Computer Weekly, April 2005
http://www.computerweekly.com/
Articles/2005/04/29/209720/quantum-cryptography-demonstration.htm
governments and armed forces.
6 Will Knight, New Scientist, April 2004
http://www.newscientist.com/channel/fundamentals/quantum-world/dn4914
Despite this secrecy, some commercial uses of the
7 Ellen Messmer, Network World, November 2007
http://www.networkworld.com
news/2007/101007-quantum-cryptography-secure-ballots.html
technology have been reported. In 2004 quantum
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