Saudi university scientists aim to put hackers out of business
Saudi university research scientists are working on new computer chip technology aimed at putting hackers out of business.
The team at KAUST, the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, are part of a joint study into a “perfect secrecy” encryption method that can fend off any attack, even from the coming next generation of quantum computers.
The results of their study, published in the scientific journal Nature Communications, open a new route toward unbreakable cryptography on a global scale, at an economical cost.
They are now in discussion with companies in the UK and US, and are in contact with a company in Saudi Arabia. “It could help governments as well,” said Dr. Andrea
Fratalocchi, associate professor of electrical engineering at KAUST and co-author of the research paper. “This technology, if implemented on a large scale, can put hackers out of business because it will create an impenetrable layer that no one can break.”
The research team say their new encryption method is not only unbreakable, but also uses existing communication networks, and takes up less network space than traditional encrypted communications do. “It’s based on integrated chips used on the sender and receiver,” Fratalocchi said.
“The chips enable the exchange of a key. It’s random, different every time and no one can infer it from the communication exchanged between the two.” With this key, users can encode information in a way that no other user can decode. The team is now working on commercial applications, a fully functional demo and user-friendly software. “We are confident of our results,” Fratalocchi said.