Team of Researchers Develop High-Speed Quantum Random Number Generator Secure Against Quantum Attacks

(DTU.dk) Led by Tobias Gehring, a team of researchers from bigQ have, in collaboration with the University of Sheffield, University of York and the Danish company Cryptomathic A/S, developed a QRNG device which is secure even against attacks exploiting the full potential of future quantum technologies.
“QRNG technologies usually assume that hackers are classical adversaries, meaning that they don’t have access to quantum computers or other quantum technologies. We have now closed that security gap. Our device is simple, yet it allows this important assumption to be relaxed”, says Tobias Gehring.
Not only does the demonstrated QRNG have the highest security against quantum attacks, it also boosts a 2.9 Gbit/s rate, placing it firmly among the fastest QRNG devices to date.
The ambitions of the team behind this quantum breakthrough go beyond research, and the clear goal is to commercialize the QRNG device so that customers world-wide can benefit from its high-speed and future-proof random numbers in a multitude of applications.
“We will have a prototype ready for testing with potential customers in the next couple of months. We are confident in the technology and its potential and at the moment we are searching for a cofounder bringing in commercial expertise”, says Dino Solar Nikolic, who drives the commercialization process towards forming a spin-out company.
High-speed random number generation is important for applications such as quantum key distribution which provides encryption keys secure against attacks making use of quantum computers. High speed is also important in the cloud where the heavy data traffic consumes cryptographic keys at a very high rate.
Random numbers are the very backbone of encryption, cyber security, and ultimately our trust in a digitized society.
“Computing power keeps increasing at an exponential pace and quantum computers, capable of shattering current cryptographic schemes, are lurking around the corner. This makes generation of true and quantum-secure random numbers one of the key challenges for a future secure communication infrastructure”, says Ulrik Lund Andersen, leader of the DNRF center bigQ at DTU Physics.