Quantum hacking lab

量子黑客实验室

• 批准号: 435896-2013
• 负责人: Makarov, Vadim
• 金额: $ 2.33万
• 依托单位: University of Waterloo
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2017
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2017-01-01 至 2018-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=633079
• 关键词: Quantum; hacking; lab

Communication security has always played a large role in human affairs, and is a fact of daily life in our today's information society. It is provided by cryptography, whose history has been a long history of failures. Constant tension between codemakers and codebreakers brought us increasingly stronger cryptographic techniques, and increasingly better ways to break them. Mathematical cryptographic techniques that we rely on today are not unbreakable. We know that a future quantum computer will break them, and perhaps even a classical cracking method will be found. Can this cat-and-mouse game ever end? Is perfect cryptography ever possible? Twenty years ago, a hope emerged. New cryptography, based on the laws of physics and not on conjectured complexity of mathematics, was invented. Quantum cryptography promised to detect any attempt of eavesdropping that was physically possible. In laboratories, machines were built that sent single photons over progressively longer distances. A few years ago, commercial products were installed to the first customers. Did our understanding of the laws of Nature finally brought a triumph over a millennia-old practical problem that now looked trivial? A few inquisitive minds still wondered, and took apart these machines. What they saw was that no machine could be built perfect. Then these quantum hackers devised ways to exploit the small inevitable flaws, and still yet steal the secret information! The manufacturers responded by plugging the known holes. Scientists began refining the quantum communication schemes and protocols to make them insensitive to certain - or perhaps all? - machine flaws. The hackers meanwhile kept finding new chinks in the armor. This grant attempts to answer the question of whether it is possible to have the perfect communication security in principle, and also in practice. We will systematically examine imperfections in quantum communication technology, and countermeasures to them. We will see if security certification standards can be introduced. We hope that an understanding will emerge if and how truly secure quantum communication and cryptography based on the laws of physics can be implemented. Impact on Canada and the world can be huge.

通信安全一直在人类事务中扮演着重要角色，并且是我们今天信息社会中的日常生活事实。它是由密码学提供的，密码学的历史是一段漫长的失败史。密码制定者和密码破译者之间持续的紧张关系为我们带来了越来越强大的密码技术，以及越来越好的破解方法。我们今天所依赖的数学密码技术并非牢不可破。我们知道未来的量子计算机会破解它们，甚至可能找到经典的破解方法。这种猫捉老鼠的游戏会结束吗？完美的密码学是可能的吗？20年前，一个希望出现了。基于物理定律而不是数学的复杂性的新密码学被发明出来。量子密码学承诺检测任何物理上可能的窃听企图。在实验室里，人们制造出了能将单光子发送到更远距离的机器。几年前，商业产品安装到第一批客户。我们对自然规律的理解最终是否战胜了一个千年前的实际问题，而这个问题现在看起来微不足道？一些好奇的头脑仍然感到奇怪，并拆开了这些机器。他们所看到的是，没有一台机器是完美的。然后，这些量子黑客设计了利用这些不可避免的小缺陷的方法，并且仍然窃取了秘密信息！制造商的反应是堵住已知的漏洞。科学家们开始改进量子通信方案和协议，使它们对某些或全部不敏感。- 机器缺陷与此同时，黑客们不断在装甲上发现新的裂缝。该授权试图回答是否有可能在原则上以及在实践中具有完美的通信安全性的问题。我们将系统地研究量子通信技术中的缺陷，以及应对措施。我们将看看是否可以引入安全认证标准。我们希望能够理解是否以及如何实现基于物理定律的真正安全的量子通信和密码学。对加拿大和世界的影响可能是巨大的。