Alice and Bob’s Entangled Quantum Relationship

Quantum Key Distribution (QKD), Quantum Entanglement (QE), and Quantum Random Number Generators (QRNG) are turning the cryptography world upside down. Indeed, one of the most enjoyable aspects of being in the Information Security space is that every day is a new battle. Many of the the things we’re dealing with now didn’t exist six months ago, and what we’ll be dealing with in six months hasn’t yet been invented. What other industry can say that?

And then my son, who’s majoring in Physics, sends me an article on how recently, three separate groups of researchers have closed the loopholes in Bells Theorem, not only proving that quantum entanglement exists, but how it can be used in ‘perfectly’ secure key distribution and random number generation. This led to a wonderful (and lengthy) discussion about the difference between ‘uncrackable’ encryption, ‘good enough’ encryption, the relationship of time and algorithm strength, and all of the other nuances around leveraging cryptography in an enterprise.

While an engaging and enjoyable discussion, the fact is, people far smarter than me are still debating the impact of the tests, not to mention the viable application of Quantum Mechanics in the field of encryption.

Take a read of the Physics Today article if you have a few minutes – Alice and Bob would appreciate it.

The full article can be found here:

Three groups close the loopholes in tests of Bell’s theorem
Until now, the quintessential demonstration of quantum entanglement has required extra assumptions.

http://scitation.aip.org/content/aip/magazine/physicstoday/article/69/1/10.1063/PT.3.3039

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