(EETimes) Researchers at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore (NTU Singapore) have developed a quantum chip 1,000 times smaller than current quantum configurations. Led by Professor Liu Ai Qun of NTU’s School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering and associate professor Kwek Leong Chuan, the team’s results were published in Nature Photonics.
Professor Liu said, “In today’s world, cybersecurity is very important, as so much of our data is stored and communicated digitally. Almost all digital platforms and repositories require users to input their passwords and biometric data, and as long as this is the case, it could be eavesdropped on or deciphered. Quantum technology eliminates this, as both the password and information are integrated within the message being sent, forming a quantum key.”
The results offer a new opportunity for implementing quantum cryptography methods in many financial systems. This new chip will improve the security context in various communication methods, from the withdrawal of cash from the ATM to the purchase of goods online All the cryptography techniques of today would be void with quantum cryptography, Today, in order to decrypt confidential, encrypted information, it is necessary to have the relative private key. And today, running a so-called “brute force” attack — trying all the possible combinations of letters, special characters, and numbers — would make it impossible to decipher an RSA key because the computers we have available would take too long. With quantum technology, however, the same operation would take a few seconds.