A quantum security leap?

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What is quantum security, what are the real world implications for the enterprise and is it really unbreakable? Davey Winder has been investigating...

big bang

Unless you happen to be Sheldon Cooper, the ubergeek character from the Big Bang Theory TV comedy show, the chances are that the mere mention of the word quantum either throws you into a fit of confused despair or science fiction inspired laughter.

Yet it was almost exactly two years ago now that a very real computer network was protected by supposedly unbreakable quantum encryption for the first time. Physics beats maths in the world of encryption for once. Bazinga!

It was back in October 2008 that the worlds of science and security collided with something of a big bang as a team of research scientists used a quantum cryptography implementation to secure a network consisting of 200km of standard commercial fibre optic cabling to connect six locations in and around Vienna.

Davey Winder
Davey Winder

Davey is a three-decade veteran technology journalist specialising in cybersecurity and privacy matters and has been a Contributing Editor at PC Pro magazine since the first issue was published in 1994. He's also a Senior Contributor at Forbes, and co-founder of the Forbes Straight Talking Cyber video project that won the ‘Most Educational Content’ category at the 2021 European Cybersecurity Blogger Awards.

Davey has also picked up many other awards over the years, including the Security Serious ‘Cyber Writer of the Year’ title in 2020. As well as being the only three-time winner of the BT Security Journalist of the Year award (2006, 2008, 2010) Davey was also named BT Technology Journalist of the Year in 1996 for a forward-looking feature in PC Pro Magazine called ‘Threats to the Internet.’ In 2011 he was honoured with the Enigma Award for a lifetime contribution to IT security journalism which, thankfully, didn’t end his ongoing contributions - or his life for that matter.

You can follow Davey on Twitter @happygeek, or email him at davey@happygeek.com.