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Encryption Space Communications Privacy Security

Equipment Already In Space Can Be Adapted For Extremely Secure Data Encryption (helpnetsecurity.com) 20

Orome1 quotes a report from Help Net Security: In a new study, researchers from the Max Planck Institute in Erlangen, demonstrate ground-based measurements of quantum states sent by a laser aboard a satellite 38,000 kilometers above Earth. This is the first time that quantum states have been measured so carefully from so far away. A satellite-based quantum-based encryption network would provide an extremely secure way to encrypt data sent over long distances. Developing such a system in just five years is an extremely fast timeline since most satellites require around 10 years of development. For the experiments, the researchers worked closely with satellite telecommunications company Tesat-Spacecom GmbH and the German Space Administration. The German Space Administration previously contracted with Tesat-Spacecom on behalf of the German Ministry of Economics and Energy to develop an optical communications technology for satellites. This technology is now being used commercially in space by laser communication terminals onboard Copernicus -- the European Union's Earth Observation Program -- and by SpaceDataHighway, the European data relay satellite system. It turned out that this satellite optical communications technology works much like the quantum key distribution method developed at the Max Planck Institute. Thus, the researchers decided to see if it was possible to measure quantum states encoded in a laser beam sent from one of the satellites already in space. In 2015 and the beginning of 2016, the team made these measurements from a ground-based station at the Teide Observatory in Tenerife, Spain. They created quantum states in a range where the satellite normally does not operate and were able to make quantum-limited measurements from the ground. The findings have been published in the journal Optica.
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Equipment Already In Space Can Be Adapted For Extremely Secure Data Encryption

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  • Equipment already in space would be extremely difficult to modify. What they really mean is that the design of space proven satellites could easily be modified.

    The difference between these things is hundreds of millions of dollars, so this isn't just pedantry.

  • First, the title is misleading. They used a satellite equipped with classical optical telecom to checkup some ground-based quantum receiving technology, but this was NOT quantum communication with the satellite. The sat they used is dead classical, built for other purposes. A new properly equipped quantum satellite would be needed for actual quantum communication.

    Second, this is old news. The team has been reporting this experiment at conferences for the past year. This is to say, the German experiment was

  • First, for it to be secure, a theory which we know is flawed (Quantum Theory, does not account for Gravity) needs to hold up to an extremely precise level. Second, the engineering needs to be secure as well, and most instances of this have been broken in the past. And third, it is nonsense anyways, since after the key exchange, you have to revert to conventional encryption for the actual data transmission anyways.

    Why this BS still gets any attention is really beyond me. People that want to believe in magic?

    • by Anonymous Coward

      "First, for it to be secure, a theory which we know is flawed (Quantum Theory, does not account for Gravity) needs to hold up to an extremely precise level"

      Quantum Field Theory makes extremely precise mathematical predictions [scienceblogs.com], which have been shown correct in many experiments. Measuring the gravitational effect upon a particles momentum is nigh impossible due to how incredibly weak gravity is [gsu.edu] compared to the other forces (notice this is different from measuring the time dilation effects of different gravit

      • by gweihir ( 88907 )

        "First, for it to be secure, a theory which we know is flawed (Quantum Theory, does not account for Gravity) needs to hold up to an extremely precise level"

        Quantum Field Theory makes extremely precise mathematical predictions [scienceblogs.com], which have been shown correct in many experiments. Measuring the gravitational effect upon a particles momentum is nigh impossible due to how incredibly weak gravity is [gsu.edu] compared to the other forces (notice this is different from measuring the time dilation effects of different gravitational field strengths).

        Precision:

        These happen to be too low for crypto. For crypto we would need around 256 bits, i.e. around 1 in 10^76. Even only 128 bit crypto would be around 1 in 10^38.
        I do agree that the level of precision is _very_ impressive for Physics, it is just not enough by a very long shot for secure crypto. At the precision level needed for crypto, gravity matters very much.

  • You have to build an entire new craft to complete the contract
  • Like snapping into a SlimJim!!!

The 11 is for people with the pride of a 10 and the pocketbook of an 8. -- R.B. Greenberg [referring to PDPs?]

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