Could quantum uncertainty provide the ultimate defence against cybercrime?
Data and communications security are absolutely essential today - for individuals, institutions, businesses, governments and nations. Current secure communications systems have vulnerabilities, some already exposed today and others that may become apparent in the future as computing power and hacking techniques improve. Secure communications based on quantum physics can eliminate some of these vulnerabilities, providing systems whose security is underpinned by the laws of nature. The basic features of quantum physics that enable secure communications are that information encoded in a quantum system cannot be copied; and that information encoded in a quantum system is irreversibly changed when somebody reads it, so that no hacking goes undetected.
Researchers in the UK Quantum Communications Hub are developing such quantum secure communications technologies (for example, quantum key distribution – QKD) for a range of applications and users: from government agencies and industry to commercial establishments and all of us at home. In particular, we are trying to miniaturise quantum systems to make them cheaper to produce and purchase, and easier to incorporate on mobile phones and home computers through quantum chips. We are working towards quantum secured banking apps and ATM facilities to counteract online fraud. And we are building a UK Quantum Network to help incorporate quantum security into the conventional telecommunications infrastructure.