View Full Version : 'Unbreakable' encryption unveiled
Yeah - right. It'll take a 17 year old about 10 minutes if my mates' son is anything to go by these days.
Story: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7661311.stm
or; The codes will be 'mislaid' by the MoD
ninjarabbi
16-10-2008, 09:21
Of course our government will think it's a wonderful idea, get in a whole load of consultants to deal with its applications and then pass the whole thing to BAE or even worse, EDS to implement. By the time those incompetents have figured out how to apply it in the Armed Forces we'll all have jetpacks and live in outer space (not that I'm cynical or anything!).
Tin basher
16-10-2008, 09:42
"Unbreakable code" just the sort of phrase that sets a certain type of person off on a mission to prove it's not.
As I understood the piece, it wasn't the data transmitted that's unbreakable, it's the fibre transport system. Hollywood's been using flashing lights for years and they still haven't understood it!
:S
Talk Wrench
16-10-2008, 18:01
Unbreakable Code?
Sounds like "unsinkable ship" and "foolproof".
TW
Unbreakable Code?
Sounds like "unsinkable ship" and "foolproof".
TW
Indeed. Red rag to a bull etc. Wonder if it comes with a guarantee?
NearlyDone
11-12-2008, 16:42
Actually, there may be some truth in these claims. As far as I can remember, this system is based on quantum uncertainty in that merely by trying to measure a quantum event, you can effect its outcome. This means that we don't know, say, the position of a quantum particle until we measure it, by which time, the very act of measuring that particle has changed its path/momentum/etc. Unless someone can find a way of measuring quantum events without affecting the outcome, you cannot 'listen in' on the system.
I think.
BTW, it's relatively difficult to do but you can hack fibre optics without breaking the circuit/cable - bend cable and use very sensitive detector! Bending cable means that, at the bend, some light path angles of incidence are greater than critical angle of reflection/refraction and will travel out of the fibre rather than be internally reflected/refracted at the boundary of the materials with different refractive indices.
God, my brain hurts now. :raf:
propersplitbrainme
11-12-2008, 17:30
Actually, there may be some truth in these claims. As far as I can remember, this system is based on quantum uncertainty in that merely by trying to measure a quantum event, you can effect its outcome. This means that we don't know, say, the position of a quantum particle until we measure it, by which time, the very act of measuring that particle has changed its path/momentum/etc. Unless someone can find a way of measuring quantum events without affecting the outcome, you cannot 'listen in' on the system.
Well duh! :PDT_Xtremez_42:
So there's an element of Heisenburg's Uncertainty Principle used here then?
It sounds to me less like an unbreakable code than an un-tappable line.
NearlyDone
12-12-2008, 16:08
Well duh! :PDT_Xtremez_42:
Yeah, I know - it's obvious really, innit?
NearlyDone
12-12-2008, 16:09
So there's an element of Heisenburg's Uncertainty Principle used here then?
It sounds to me less like an unbreakable code than an un-tappable line.
That's the badger - Heisenburg! I think he still owes me a tenner ... but I'm not sure. Yuk yuk. (Quantum Mechanics Joke)
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