Sign in / up

back to article Turbo-charged quantum crypto? You'll need Cambridge laser boffins for that

Boffins hope to turbo-charge the speed of “unbreakable” quantum cryptographic systems with a new technique involving “seeding” one laser beam inside another. Researchers from the University of Cambridge and Toshiba Research Europe have used the technique to demonstrate that it might be possible to distribute encryption keys at …

COMMENTS

Post your comment
House rules Send corrections
Add to 'My topics' unstar *

  1. This post has been deleted by its author

    1. caffeine addict
      Reply Icon

      Sorry... your password isn't strange enough. But it is quite charming...

      21 0 Reply
  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    After reading this...

    ...I decided I am suffering from photonic aberrations...

    0 0 Reply
  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Taking it on trust

    So I guess for most people (including the more literate IT types reading here!) we are realistically already at the level where we have to take "secure/unbreakable encryption" claims on trust (because the maths is hard) but once "quantum stuff" starts getting used in real world situations it's going to get worse, right? The number of people who could legitimately claim to genuinely and fully understand how it works is going to go down by an order of magnitude (if not two or three!). 'Cos, you know, this quantum stuff is spooky ...

    6 0 Reply
    1. Doctor Syntax Silver badge
      Reply Icon

      Re: Taking it on trust

      "getting used in real world situations"

      Are there any real world situations where it could be deployed other than line-of-sight links or point-to-point fibre?

      0 0 Reply
      1. mosw
        Reply Icon

        Re: Taking it on trust

        "Are there any real world situations where it could be deployed other than line-of-sight links or point-to-point fibre?"

        I believe that point-to-point fibre links are the intended use. So it is for very high security applications. Keep in mind that the quantum crypto would be mainly used to distribute secure encryption keys so the actual communication payload can be over any conventional medium.

        0 0 Reply
    2. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Black Helicopters

      Re: Taking it on trust

      I'm waiting for the tool kit to check the Bourne probabilities of the quantum cryptographic chip... ;)

      0 0 Reply
  4. Mike Shepherd

    Keep real

    With all this dazzling technology, it's useful to bear in mind that having your cryptography 99.999999999% secure is a waste of time if there's a 0.1% chance that one of your own (e.g. Snowden) decides to act against your crookery.

    0 0 Reply
  5. Mark 85
    Coat

    So do we ask Charlie if there's a cat in there?

    0 0 Reply
    1. Alistair
      Reply Icon

      @Mark 85:

      Charlie IS the cat.

      We're just not sure where the box happens to exist at this moment.

      2 0 Reply
      1. Mark 85
        Reply Icon

        Ah... I'm still having a bit of a fit grasping this stuff. That clears it up. So Charlie is the cat and in or maybe not in the box that may or may not exist at this moment?

        0 0 Reply
  6. PaulAb

    I'm all for duality.....

    because I can be at a fridge somewhere in the multiverse getting a beer, whilst I'm too lazy to get out the chair in the other room.

    Also, what with all this simultaneous moments stuff where stuff is in another place faster than the speed of light does this mean I can recall my libelous emails before I send them

    0 0 Reply

POST COMMENT House rules

Not a member of The Register? Create a new account here.

Forgotten password ?

  • Enter your comment

  • Add an icon

Anonymous cowards cannot choose their icon

Other stories you might like