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Science/Tech See other Science/Tech Articles Title: "Spooky Action": Did Einstein Invent a Hack-Proof Network? "Spooky Action": Did Einstein Invent a Hack-Proof Network? > The Chinese are putting the finishing touches on an unhackable network built on principles of quantum theory. > They've also launched a satellite to support this "quantum network." > Our long-term cyber security may depend on quantum computing. On August 16, 2016, the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) launched the world's first quantum communications satellite. It was a huge step for the Chinese. And it may have enormous implications for all of us. The $100 million Quantum Experiments at Space Scale (QUESS) project is a joint effort between the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Austrian Academy of Sciences "designed to establish 'hack-proof' quantum communications by transmitting uncrackable keys from space to the ground." China is close to another major quantum communication milestone that brings the foggy dream of a totally secure internet into clearer focus. As IEEE Spectrum reported last week, researchers from the University of Science and Technology of China are on course to complete a 2,000-kilometer-long fiber-optic link that will enable the transmission of quantum keys for secure communication between Beijing and Shanghai by the end of 2016. If it works, it'll establish a quantum network of four cities. Combined with the quantum satellite's potential, we're talking about a secure quantum network. China is close to another major quantum communication milestone that brings the foggy dream of a totally secure internet into clearer focus. So what is quantum computing? Let's frame it by talking about two major objectives quantum computing helps achieve: greater precision via increased computing power and greater security. As defined by the University of Waterloo Institute for Quantum Computing, "Quantum computing is essentially harnessing and exploiting the amazing laws of quantum mechanics to process information." The most basic element of the chips that are the "brains" of the desktops and laptops we're using today is the "bit," which is based on a binary encoding system — ones and zeroes. Quantum computing is based on quantum bits — or qubits — which allow those binary ones and zeroes to be encoded into different quantum states. The elegance of quantum computing rests on "superposition" and "entanglement" — phenomena specific to the smallest particles known to man, including atoms and electrons. In a quantum system, superposition means that a particle "can be 'here' and 'there,' or 'up' and 'down' at the same time." Entanglement — or "spooky action at a distance," as Einstein described it — is a relationship between two or more particles so strong that their "actions" are linked no matter the distance separating them. The two together mean exponentially greater computing power: a classical computer thinks with ones and zeros. A quantum computer will think with ones, zeros, and "superpositions" of ones and zeros. Those "uncrackable keys" that QUESS is transmitting? That rests on the fact that any attempt to observe or measure a quantum system will disturb the system. This is the principle behind quantum key distribution (QKD), which is a hyper-souped-up form of cryptography. What it boils down to is that any attempt to hack a quantum computer or quantum network will be detectable. One main question is this: How close are we to the widespread adoption of quantum computing? The short answer to the first, says quantum computer expert Daniel Lidar, is within "a couple of years, devices with more than 40 qubits could become a reality." The more complex answer is that it's a matter not necessarily of time but of distance. What it boils down to is that any attempt to hack a quantum computer or quantum network will be detectable. QKD, as IEEE Spectrum notes, "encodes information in the states of individual photons. And those photons can't travel indefinitely in fiber or through the air; the longer the distance, the greater the chance they will be absorbed or scattered." Current technology is such that to send a single bit of secure quantum key over 1,000 kilometers of fiber would take 300 years. Obviously, we don't have that kind of time. After all, as Scientific American notes – and as many of us experienced during the October 21 Mirai botnet distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack on a major U.S. Domain Name System service provider – "the Internet-of-Things is growing faster than the ability to defend it." Here's another problem: Just as a quantum key can't be hacked without creating a detectable signal, one can't be copied without breaking it. China's solution is to incorporate an interconnected chain of "'trusted nodes'… that measures the key and then transmits it with fresh photons to the next node in the chain." It's imperfect because these nodes have to convert to the traditional binary encoding and then back to quantum when they send information to the next link. This traditional binary step creates an opportunity for hackers to do their worst, undetected. The solution will be entanglement and the use of "quantum repeaters." Research here is still in the very early stages, though it is progressing. One solution is an optical quantum repeater that reduces the quantum memory requirement and also the energy required to run such systems. As for when we'll see a fully functional, large-scale quantum network, we're probably talking a matter of decades. It is, after all, "one of the most ambitious endeavors in quantum physics right now," said Phys.org. Four years ago, scientists at the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics established the first universal quantum network, connecting two labs 21 meters apart. The Chinese are about to link up two major cities 2,000 kilometers apart. So we're getting there. And it's going to happen faster than you think. Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread
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