(IT.Toolbox) The principles of quantum computing are being called on to provide a road map for a more secure method for safeguarding information This new approach, called quantum key distribution, or QKD, uses a more elaborate – and essentially infallible – method for exchanging the secret code information.
As new computers are introduced with ever-more powerful computational abilities, the danger they can be used to break once unsolvable codes like RSA-1024 is very real.
“QKD effectively addresses the challenges confronting classic key distribution approaches, by providing a provably secure cryptographic building block for remote parties to share cryptographic keys,” says the Cloud Security Alliance. “It is secure against the most arbitrarily powerful eavesdroppers.” QKD technology has been around since the 1990s as an experimental field, but now has matured to the point of commercial viability, according to the Cloud Security Alliance.
“Quantum communication takes advantage of the laws of quantum physics to protect data,” says Martin Giles in the MIT Technology Review.
Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) Provides Provably Secure Cryptographic Building Blocks
