{"id":45241,"date":"2013-06-18T14:44:59","date_gmt":"2013-06-18T18:44:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rbachnet.wwwmi3-ss40.a2hosted.com\/index.php\/"},"modified":"2021-08-16T22:17:02","modified_gmt":"2021-08-17T02:17:02","slug":"startup-taps-quantum-encryption-for-cybersecurity-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rbach.net\/index.php\/startup-taps-quantum-encryption-for-cybersecurity-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Quantum Encryption for Grid Security"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Quantum<\/a>Vulnerabilities in the national grids and the potential for wide-scale outages have raised concerns over the past few years as high-profile companies have gone public with highly advanced hacking attempts. MIT<\/a>‘s Technology Review<\/em><\/a> reported<\/a> on GridCOM Technologies<\/a>, a startup that recently secured seed funding from Ellis Energy Investment<\/a> which\u00a0says quantum cryptography<\/strong> can make the electricity grid<\/a><\/strong> control systems secure.<\/p>\n

Quantum cryptography<\/h3>\n

\"Quantum<\/a>Dr. Duncan Earl<\/a> the chief technology officer of <\/span>GridCOM Technologies<\/span><\/strong> told TR<\/em> he plans to use the start-up money to build a prototype quantum encryption<\/a> system designed specifically for the electricity grid. The company\u2019s hope is to show a working system working next year near its home base in San Diego<\/a>. Utilities would pay about $50 a month for access<\/strong> to a software service and hardware that encrypt critical communications in an area.<\/span><\/p>\n

With GridCOM Technologies<\/a>, Dr. Earl is trying to make critical infrastructure more <\/span>secure by encrypting data sent to grid control systems. The article explains that traditional encryption techniques can\u2019t work at the low latency speeds\u2014measured in milliseconds\u2013required for SCADA<\/a> systems<\/strong>, which leaves them vulnerable to attack. CTO Earl is an expert in optical technologies who worked for the Cyberspace Sciences and Information Intelligence Research<\/a> group at Oak Ridge National Laboratory<\/a> and helped spin out an\u00a0optical lighting company in 2006<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Quantum entanglement<\/h3>\n

\"twin<\/a>GridCOM Technology\u2019s system works by generating two photons using a laser and storing them in optical fiber cables<\/a><\/strong>.\u00a0These twin photons<\/strong> each have an opposition polarization\u2014either a wave oscillating up and down or left and right, Dr. Duncan explained to the author, Martin LaMonica<\/a>. According to quantum mechanics<\/strong>, if one tries to measure these photons, it will change the state of the other and the photons are no longer \u201centangled.\u201d This phenomenon allows a communications system to detect if a message has been intercepted.<\/p>\n

According to the article, the firm\u2019s service would create an encryption key<\/strong> based on the arrangement of the photon pair<\/strong>. A hardware receiver posts that information on the Internet and the company\u2019s hosted software will poll those devices. A subscriber to the service will be able to confirm that communications haven\u2019t been tampered with and encrypt messages, Mr. Duncan says. \u201cYou\u2019ve got physics that is ultimately securing the device, not mathematics. Mathematical complexity has been a great tool for encryption but it\u2019s not future proof,\u201d he told TR<\/em>.<\/p>\n

GridCOM’s Duncan says a key advantage of the system, is that it works quickly, a necessity for SCADA<\/a> systems. \u201cYou\u2019ve eliminated the possibility of somebody eavesdropping to hack the key<\/strong>. There\u2019s no data latency and you\u2019ve leveraged a random bit stream … That\u2019s really all the grid needs.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Quantum<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Limitations<\/h3>\n

One of the main limitations is that the cryptography is only point-to-point<\/strong> over a fiber cable and can\u2019t work across switching equipment over the Internet. In GridCOM Technology\u2019s case, the system is limited to 20 kilometers<\/strong> in distance. GridCOM’s CTO envisions that utilities will put a series of hardware receivers in secured buildings to encrypt communications for a whole region. There are already a number of efforts to build commercial quantum encryption<\/a> systems GigaOm<\/em><\/a> reported<\/a> on the success that the scientists at Los Alamos<\/a> have had running a quantum network for over two years and ID Quantique<\/a> in Switzerland.<\/p>\n

TR<\/em> concludes that quantum encryption offers one promising route to securing the grid, but it shouldn\u2019t be seen as a silver bullet. If it works, it would address one very specific application but securing something as complex as the power grid requires a full suite of options and above all good security practices.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Smart Grid Today<\/em><\/a> provides (PDF) some background. Quantum physics<\/a> was first described in a 1935 paper that included Albert Einstein<\/a><\/strong> as an author. Erwin Schr\u00f6dinger<\/a> coined the quantum term “entanglement”<\/strong> and that was the basis for his famous thought experiment of a cat<\/a> that exists simultaneously in a state of being alive and dead.<\/p>\n

CERN<\/a><\/strong> to prove quantum entanglement, utterly confounding Einstein\u2019s theory of relativity because now information can be transmitted not at or below the speed of light, but literally instantaneously.<\/p>\n

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