"Quantum Cryptography" is dead

[phyllotaxis]

Fascinating... how many billions of dollars were flushed away without any common-sense reason applied to the actual use of the tech.

Absurdity in modern science at its finest...or worst.

http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/arxiv/27522/

an excerpt from the linked article--

The problem of sending messages securely has troubled humankind since the dawn of civilisation and probably before.

In recent years, however, physicists have raised expectations that this problem has been solved by the invention of quantum key distribution. This exploits the strange quantum property of entanglement to guarantee the secrecy of a message.

Entanglement is so fragile that any eavesdropper cannot help but break it, revealing the ruse. So cryptographers can use it to send a secure key called a one time pad that can then be used to encrypt a message. If the key is intercepted, the sender simply sends another and repeats this until one gets through.

So-called quantum key distribution is unconditionally secure--it offers perfect secrecy guaranteed by the laws of physics.

Or at least that's what everyone thought. More recently, various groups have begun to focus on a fly in the ointment: the practical implementation of this process. While quantum key distribution offers perfect security in practice, the devices used to send quantum messages are inevitably imperfect.

For example, lasers that are supposed to send one photon at a time can sometimes send several and this allows information to leak to an eavesdropper.

Last year, we discussed another trick used by a group of quantum hackers to eavesdrop on a commercial quantum cryptography system. This system, although theoretically secure, turned out to be embarrassingly vulnerable in practice.

Does that last sentence remind anyone of modern astronomy/physics????

[303vegas]

some people are so foolish! unfortunately we live in a world where the people holding the purse strings are overly impressed by technology. if it's anything to do with computers or whizzy gear. doesn't matter if it works or not or of it's actually useful as long as you can appear to be on the cutting edge then everything's fine.

example: LHC. when is that going to start paying for itself?

example: NHS central database. scrapped after £12billion or so of useless junk.

and we're paying for this...

[Sparky]

LHC. when is that going to start paying for itself?

That's a drop in the bucket, compared to the cost of a "moon base", being proposed by some american retards. If it comes about, the UK and others will get roped in too. What, trillions?!

I wonder, just how secure is this online encryption?