(Meduzza.io) Social media users noticed that the American company Grandstram sells a device on Amazon for $204 that looks identical to the ViPNet QSS Phone announced by Infotecs and the Center for Quantum Technologies at Moscow State University as Russia’s first model to use quantum encryption technology. The basic equipment set for the Russian device, which consists of one server and two telephones, will reportedly cost 30 million rubles ($461,400).
Infotecs explained to the radio station Govorit Moskva that the two devices are only identical in appearance. The company’s representatives said that during the demonstration, they really had used a handset purchased from a third-party developer, but the handset has nothing to do with quantum encryption. The technology that distinguishes the company’s new model could have been connected to a range of handsets.
“The quantum keys for traffic encryption are not created in the telephone itself; they are generated between the ViPNet QSS Client and the ViPNet QSS Server, which are optically connected through the ViPNet QSS Switch commutator system. These are the components of the system […] that are most costly and most unique,” Infotecs representatives said.
Russia’s Quantum Encryption Telephone ‘Found’ on Amazon for 2263 Times Less Than List Price
