Quantum cryptography record broken

Scientists have reported an important speed breakthrough which brings closer the day when quantum encryption becomes a usable part of communications security.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), a U.S. government agency, has reported that it has managed to shift quantum-encrypted information at a "raw" throughput of 4 million bits per second across a 1 km-long fiber link.

This is at least twice NIST's previous record, which has been rising since the agency announced it had broken the 1 million bits per second barrier in May 2004.

At such transfer rates, it becomes practical to use quantum key distribution (QKD) cryptography to secure a video stream.