Researchers Make Chips Based On Century-Old Cryptography Technique

Encryption is an essential process to enhance the protection of human privacy in the digital era. And cryptography is a method of encrypting and decoding information. For example, messages on Viber, Signal or WhatsApp are the data source for cryptography with end-to-end encryption. Now, encryption has taken it to the next level when researchers have discovered a new technique that guarantees absolute secrecy.

Cryptography techniques utilize algorithms that can quickly encrypt information through the use of short cypher, private or public one. However, the cyphers are influenced by the computing power of quantum algorithms as well as supercomputers in the future. Therefore, as a solution to the limitations, optical chips have been invented by researchers to facilitate user interaction through one-time safety communication that cannot be hacked, which is more reliable than other encryption methods that have been introduced before

As explained by Andrea di Falco, the researcher behind the study from the University of St. Andrews, this encryption method can be developed to enhance the confidentiality of information in communications that are connected under any distance, at an extremely fast speed equal to the speed of light. In addition, optical chips are an economical and electrically compatible solution.

This new technique was developed based on Vernam Cypher, a type of code used to encrypt telegram messages. Vernam Cypher is known to be able to bring out perfection if operated with absolute precision. The code utilizes a random key when encrypting a one-time message and is kept confidential. It has yet to be implemented and there is a security risk when the senders share the key with users.

In their study, the researchers mentioned that, through the second law of thermodynamics, they found that the irreversible and perfect structures of silicon chips could be utilized to work as one-time keys. A property of such keys is that they cannot be regenerated and maintained anywhere. This makes them more secure from cybersecurity threats. Another advantage of such a technique is that they are compatible with current communication infrastructures.