Encryption

Two US researchers believe they have found a way to transmit information safely over an optical network without fear of interception. The technique hinges on transmission of encrypted data in the "noise" of signals along fibre-optic cables.

Their method take advantage of the fact fibre-optic systems inevitably have low levels of "noise" ? the random jitters in the light waves that are used to transmit information through a network. The technique, developed by two researchers at Princeton University, hides the secret encrypted message in this optical noise.

US computer scientists are preparing to unveil details of a technique that sends secret messages over public fibre-optic networks by hiding the transmission in background interference.

Bernard Wu and Evgenii Narimanov of Princeton University will detail their technique for "inexpensive, widespread and secure" transmission of confidential and sensitive data at this week's annual meeting of the Optical Society of America.

A team of researchers from Northwestern University in the US and BBN Technologies have demonstrated the world's first working quantum cryptography network. Northwestern University's Dr Gregory Kanter, who coordinated the demonstration, talks to Liz Tay about the basics of quantum cryptography and its potential for use in security systems of the future.

What is quantum cryptography?

The term snake oil is often used to describe cryptography that does not actually provide the level of security that its proponents claim. The origin of the term is somewhat unclear, but one story is that it can be traced back to one of the traditional remedies for joint pain and inflammation that was brought to the US in the nineteenth century by Chinese immigrants.

One thing became glaringly clear to organizations in 2005?storage security must be improved in order to avoid the public relations and logistical nightmares that have surprised both consumers and corporate chief information officers. Recent events are enough to keep storage and backup professionals up at night.

Mobile security specialist, Safeboot, has launched one of the first products that can transparently encrypt and decrypt data held on Windows mobile PDAs and smartphones.

Data Encryption and Secure Access Control for Windows Mobile is unusual in that it integrates with the device, and requires no user intervention other than a passphrase.

A joint U.S. and Canadian organization that certifies encryption tools for use by federal government agencies has suspended its validation of OpenSSL cryptographic technology for the second time in less than six months.

The decision means that government agencies cannot purchase the open-source tool for the time being, although those that have already done so will still be allowed to use it. OpenSSL is an open-source implementation of the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and Transport Layer security protocols. It is widely used to encrypt and decrypt data on the Internet.

Chinese engineers have allegedly cracked Skype's Internet telephony protocol, according to a Thursday blog posting.

If the blog posting is correct, software developers who currently don't have access to Skype's protocol could develop and sell alternative Skype clients. This could prove problematic for eBay, which has kept the protocol private since acquiring Skype last year. In a statement, a Skype representative acknowledged but dismissed the claim.

Reports of data theft often conjure up images of malicious hackers breaking into remote databases to filch Social Security numbers, credit card records and other personal information.

But a lot of the time, the scenario is much simpler: A careless worker at a company or agency with weak security policies falls prey to a low-tech street thug who runs off with a laptop loaded with private data.

PGP is often thought of as an encryption system, but your private key is a digital signature that can prove who your message comes from, as well as showing that it hasn’t been tampered with.