Quantum Cryptography: When Your Link Has to be Really, Really Secure
Keeping data and communications secure is a hot topic. Hackers access systems through open ports, through secret programs, and through various ruses or aliases. As a result, data-security products and strategies are top priorities for both embedded and enterprise systems.
Another long-recognized weakness in any system is the physical link that connects users or system nodes. Although several ways, such as a private channel or a physically secured link, exist to minimize this risk, it is more common to use data encoded using a complex, mathematics-based approach, such as the RSA (Rivest/Shamir/Adleman) algorithm or a one-time key. Physically securing the link is often impractical and rules out wireless links; data encoding is susceptible to decoding by a determined eavesdropper. (Even the RSA algorithm may face this challenge as computers get more powerful.) And the one-time key, although absolutely secure in principle, has severe implementation problems in practice.