Published in Physics World, 14 Apr 2010
An international team of physicists has created the first system that can produce verifiably random numbers. The technique relies on the inherent uncertainties in quantum mechanics and future versions could help cryptographers to encode information more securely than ever before.
Randomness is central to modern cryptography, which uses long strings of random numbers to form “keys” that can encode and decode sensitive information. Normally such strings are churned out by complex mathematical algorithms, called pseudo random-number generators. But these only approximate random strings, and there is the constant worry that hackers could somehow predict the sequences and gain access to secret files. […]
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