MOSCOW, May 15. DSTU scientists proposed to protect communication channels using the features of quantum teleportation. According to them, the developed encryption algorithm will significantly complicate the interception of data, making the efforts of hackers practically meaningless. The results of the study are published in Electronics.
Quantum cryptography is the science of encryption and transmission of messages using objects of quantum mechanics, such as electrons in a current or photons in an optical fiber.
Researchers at the Don State Technical University (DSTU) have proposed a way to increase the security of the widely used protocol BB84, which generates a secret key for encrypting transmitted data.
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“We have developed a module that can be embedded in a cryptographic system and can act as an encryption device to further increase the cryptographic strength of messages. It makes the process of hacking the system, if not completely useless, then at least extremely difficult and unprofitable, «said Olga Safaryan, associate professor of the Department of Cybersecurity of Information Systems of the DSTU, one of the authors of the publication.
According to university specialists, the most important thing in creating a cryptographic program — maintaining a balance between the generation time of the cipher and the level of security. Connecting their module to existing quantum protocols will not upset this balance, but, on the contrary, will allow, at the same time costs, to increase the level of information security.
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The system created at DSTU is based on one of the principles of quantum mechanics, based on which it is impossible to create an exact copy of a quantum system without destroying its source. Such a «transfer» of information about the quantum states of particles over a distance is called quantum teleportation.
«In the framework of the classical approach, in principle, nothing forbids us, having received arbitrarily complete information about an object, to create another object that is an exact copy of the first one. Quantum mechanics prohibits such cloning of states: it is impossible, having received complete information about a quantum state, to create a second , exactly the same state, without destroying the first one,» Safaryan said.
In order to prevent the communication channel from being eavesdropped, DSTU scientists propose to supplement the semantic part of the message with a set of characters meaningless for the hacker.
In the future, researchers led by Professor of the Department of Cybersecurity of Information Systems Larisa Cherkesova plan to study the quantum memory of photons and apply this effect to create encryptions of an even higher level of protection .
Don State Technical University is a participant of the Priority-2030 program of the Ministry of Education and Science.