Communications of the ACM
Quantum 'sealed Envelope' System Enables 'perfectly Secure' Information Storage
University of Cambridge
Credit: University of Cambridge
Cambridge University researchers say they have achieved a breakthrough in quantum cryptography by demonstrating that information can be encrypted and then decrypted with complete security using a "sealed envelope" system based on quantum theory and relativity. The researchers say they sent encrypted data between pairs of sites in Geneva and Singapore that was kept "perfectly secure" for 15 milliseconds using a "bit commitment" protocol. The system could be the first step toward impregnable information networks controlled by "the combined power of Einstein's relativity and quantum theory," according to the researchers.
Bit commitment is a mathematical version of a securely sealed envelope. The researchers say the technique could be used for a variety of applications, including global financial trading, secure voting, and long-distance gambling. "This is the first time perfectly secure bit commitment — relying on the laws of physics and nothing else — has been demonstrated," says Cambridge's Adrian Kent.
The researchers note that bit commitment is a building block that can be put together in lots of ways to achieve increasingly complex tasks. "I see this as the first step towards a global network of information controlled by the combined power of relativity and quantum theory," Kent says.
From University of Cambridge
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