A method for scrambling data to protect it from the super powerful computers of the future has received a speed boost from a team of researchers from Duke and Ohio State universities and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
The method uses quantum key distribution to guard data from prying eyes, wrote Nurul T. Islam, Charles Ci Wen Lim, Clinton Cahall, Jungsang Kim and Daniel J. Gauthier in an article published in ScienceAdvances.
The problem in the past with the technology is it’s slow, they explained. Transfer speeds typically are measured in kilobits per second. However, the researchers found a way to increase key transmission rates between five and 10 times, bringing them into the megabit per second range.
Making quantum key distribution practical is viewed as a way to counter the future threat to encrypted data.
“One powerful aspect of quantum encryption is that it is secure against quantum computers,” said Kevin Curran, a senior member of the IEEE and a professor of cybersecurity at Ulster University in Northern Ireland.
“Its strength does not depend on mathematical complexity, like current cryptography, but on physical principles,” he told TechNewsWorld.
Source: https://www.technewsworld.com/story/84983.html
