Posted on 05/26/2007 6:26:09 PM PDT by LibWhacker
SPYING is big business, and avoiding being spied on an even bigger one. So imagine if someone came up with a simple, cheap way of encrypting messages that is almost impossible to hack into?
American computer engineer Laszlo Kish at Texas A&M University in College Station claims to have done just that. He says the thermal properties of a simple wire can be exploited to create a secure communications channel, one that outperforms quantum cryptography keys.
His cipher device, which he first proposed in 2005, exploits a property called thermal noise. Thermal noise is generated by the natural agitation of electrons within a conductor, which happens regardless of any voltage passed through it. But it does change depending on the conductor's resistance.
Kish and his collaborators at the University of Szeged in Hungary say this can be used to securely pass information, or an encryption key, down any wire, including a telephone line or network cable. In their device, both the sender Alice and the receiver Bob have an identical pair of resistors, one producing high resistance, the other low resistance. The higher the total resistance on the line, the greater the thermal noise.
Both Alice and Bob randomly choose which resistor to use. A quarter of the time they will both choose the high resistor, producing a lot of noise on the line, while a quarter of the time they will both choose the low resistor, producing little noise. If either detect a high or a low amount of noise in the line, they ignore any communication.
Half the time, however, they will choose differently, producing an intermediate level of thermal noise, and it is now that a message can be sent. If Bob turns on his high resistor, and records an intermediate level of noise, he instantly knows that Alice has chosen her low resistor, in essence sending a bit of information such as 1 or 0. Kish's cipher does this many times, sending a random series of 1s and 0s that can form the basis of an encryption key, the researchers say (http://www.arxiv.org/abs/physics/0612153).
That message is also secure. For a start, as Kish notes, it takes an "educated eavesdropper" to even realise information is being sent when there seems to be just low-level noise on the line. If they do try to eavesdrop, they can only tell a message is being sent, not what it is, because it's impossible to tell whether Alice has a high or low resistor turned on, and whether the bit of information is a 1 or a 0. What's more, eavesdropping on the line will naturally alter the level of thermal noise, so Alice and Bob will know that someone is listening in.
Kish and his team have now successfully built a device that can send a secure message down a wire 2000 kilometres long, much further than the best quantum key distribution (QKD) devices tried so far. Tests show a signal sent via Kish's device is received with 99.98 per cent accuracy, and that a maximum of just 0.19 per cent of the bits sent are vulnerable to eavesdropping. The error rate is down to the inherent resistance of the wire, and choosing a larger wire in future models should help reduce it further. "A secure message can be sent down a wire 2000 kilometres long"
However, this level of security already beats QKD. What's more, the system works with fixed lines, rather than the optical fibres used to carry photons of light at the heart of quantum encryption devices. It is also more robust, as QKD devices are vulnerable to corruption by dust, heat and vibration. It is also much cheaper. "I guess it's around a hundred dollars, at most," Kish says.
"This is a system that should be taken seriously," says security specialist Bruce Schneier, who founded network security firm BT Counterpane. He says he was seduced by the simplicity of the idea when it was first proposed by Kish, and now wants to see independent tests of the working model. "I desperately want someone to analyse it," he says. "Assuming it works, it's way better than quantum."
The National Security Agency loves it when “others” develop these unbreakable transmission methods. Sorta like warm caramel on top of really good vanilla ice cream, w/nuts.
Yeah, we probably have no chance of breaking into that in the next decade.
Not much.
YAWWWWWWN. FYI, this is not the first time a thing like this came up. I invented something kinda of this nature in early 1980s(!) but when I showed it to several big end users and hence potential customers they all agreed it was interesting and probably would work but so what. Nobody would buy it. Despite these many years of trying and failing to find someone who would put their money where their mouth was, if the cash was offered now I could still build the thing pretty fast and cheap. But I ain't holding my breath.
P.S. Could someone please post that "oh not this same old s**t again" picture.
Years ago I had essentially exactly this idea:
I couldn't think of a suitable way to commercialize it, but looking back, I think I should have pursued it anyway.
I mean, even if I never made a dime, working with the product testers would have been worth it...
They have this now. I saw it on FR. Ipod audio vibrator just like your post suggests.
Yep.
But, but, but, it’s just an orange.
Yeah? Taste it...
I don’t get it. Help me out.
I don’t get it. Help me out.
It starts with a guy who develops an orange flavored feminine hygiene spray...
Both Alice and Bob randomly choose which resistor to use. A quarter of the time they will both choose the high resistor, producing a lot of noise on the line, while a quarter of the time they will both choose the low resistor, producing little noise. If either detect a high or a low amount of noise in the line, they ignore any communication.
::::::::::::::::::::
Bob and Alice each have two cans of spray....
Trajan88; TAMU Class of '88; Law Hall (may it R.I.P.) Ramp 9 Mule; f.u.p.!
It won't. It relies on hardwired connections.
It's not securing packets, it's securing the bits that make up the packets.
LOL
I thought this was an article about housing discrimination in Chicago.
::::::::::::::::::::::::
Pure hilarity!
Alice wants to send Bob the following number: 666.
666 is 1001 1001 1001
At 10:00 AM Alice places a 1R resistor (High value) resistor on the line. Bob flips a coin and places a 1R on the line. Line reads high noise. Both Alice and Bob know that both bit were high. So does any casual listener. Everybody records a 1.
Alice steps to her next bit 0R Bob flips a coin and gets a 1R. The noise is at an intermediate level. Bob knows his was a 1R therefore he rights down a 0. A casual listener doesn’t know either Bob’s or Alice’s resistor He can’t determine the value of Alice’s bit.
Alice steps to her next bit 0R Bob flips a coin and gets a 0R. The noise is at an low level. Everyone knows that was supposed to be a 0.
See table, Col 1, Alice’s message, Col 2, Bob’s guess, Col 3 line noise, Col 4, Bob’s knows, Col 5, Casual listener knows:
A BLBC
MGNKK
1 1 1 1 1
0 1 ? 0 ?
0 0 0 0 0
1 0 ? 1 ?
1 1 1 1 1
0 1 ? 0 ?
0 1 ? 0 ?
1 0 ? 1 ?
1 0 ? 1 ?
0 1 ? 0 ?
0 0 0 0 0
1 0 ? 1 ?
So Bob sees:
1001 1001 1001 or 666
The casual listener sees:
1?0? 1??? ??0? or nada, as in nada thing...
On the average, the casual listener would lose 50% of the bits. In this example he lost 2/3 of the data. I did it table with literal con flips and that’s what I got...
Ummm, I meant either 999 or 0110 0110 0110.
*sigh*
Just for phun and more coin flips...
A BLBC
MGNKK
0 0 0 0 0
1 0 ? 1 ?
1 0 ? 1 ?
0 1 ? 0 ?
0 0 0 0 0
1 1 1 1 1
1 1 1 1 1
0 1 ? 0 ?
0 0 0 0 0
1 1 1 1 1
1 0 ? 1 ?
0 0 0 0 0
Bob gets;
0110 0110 0110 or 666.
Casual listener gets:
0??? 011? 01?0 or nothing again...
7/12ths garbage this time.
Of course, if Bob sends the same message to Carl, and Carl send the same message to David, and David sends it on to Edward, the casual listener will have a pretty good handle on exactly what was said.
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