The Enigma Machine Moves Thousand Steps Ahead

Remember that awesome flick starring ‘Benedict Cumberbatch’ and ‘Keira Knightley’ that immortalized the story of Alan Turing and Enigma in our memories. This is the second part of that story. A team of researchers working in the University of Rochester have finally moved scores of steps ahead. The team was finally successful in moving beyond the theoretical notes and was successful in sending an encrypted message with a single key that is way smaller than a complete message. It is for the first time someone has been successful in accomplishing this task.

Till date, the system was capable of sending only unbreakable encrypted messages through a system that was designed by Claude Shannon, an American mathematician. He combined his electrical circuitry and algebra concepts in order to develop a binary system that could transmit messages secured by three pre-defined conditions. These included randomness of key, length as long as message, and one-time usability.

The research was conducted by John Howell, a physics professor, and Daniel Lum, a graduate physics professor. As per Howell, “Daniel’s research amounts to an important step forward, not just for encryption, but for the field of quantum data locking,” Quantum data locking refers to an encryption method developed by a quantum information professor working at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Seth Lloyd. It primarily uses photons, the most small particles related to light and capable of carrying a message with them. But this method too has its own restrictions with respect to encrypted messages, However, Lloyd moved ahead and found some new ways by making some assumptions to secure the transmission of messages,

The binary system only allows either on or off position along with every small bit of information. The photon waves can be altered in multiple ways, it’s angle as well as length can be modified as per requirement. A photon particle has multiple variables,but there are a number of uncertainties with respect to quantum measurements, this opens up scope for shortening the length of key less than a message.