In a bid to give the country an edge in its cyber war against the West (read United States), China is ready to launch world’s first and longest hack-proof quantum communication network stretching 2,000 km from Beijing to Shanghai via a £60 million fiber-optic cable.
By 2016, the ‘Great Firewall of China’ will transmit quantum encryption keys to keep government, financial and military information safe from eavesdroppers. However, eventually all communications in China, down to storing photographs on cloud servers, could feature quantum encryption.
The project is led by Professor Pan Jianwei, a quantum physicist at the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC). In 2014, he told The Telegraph, “We learnt after the Edward Snowden affair that we are always being hacked. Since most of the products we buy come from foreign companies, we wanted to accelerate our own programme. This is very urgent because classical encryption was not invented in China, so we want to develop our own technology.”
Quantum encryption relies upon writing the encryption codes, or keys, upon single photons of light. If a hacker tries to eavesdrop on the line, they will disturb the encoding of the photon and be detected. Consequently, said Prof Pan, it should provide perfect security.
“Of course, although quantum communication can in principle provide absolute security, in practice, we have to prove it thoroughly by various hacking tests. So we are inviting the finest hackers to attack our system,” he added.
Reports suggest that by 2030, Chinese super secure network will extend across the globe. China’s progress is likely to trigger a global race in developing Quantum computers. Governments in Europe, Japan and Canada are about to launch their own quantum communication satellite projects. A private company in the US has been seeking funding from the federal government with a proposal for a 10,000 km network linking major cities.
“We heard NASA is building a quantum line between Los Angeles and San Francisco. And IBM and Google are both investing heavily,” he confirmed. China will achieve Asia-Europe intercontinental quantum key distribution by 2020 and build a global quantum communication network by 2030, he added.
The news comes after a representative study on Internet attack traffic has revealed that 43 % of online attacks originated in China, more than three times Indonesia in second place with 15 %. The attacks in the study referred to attempts by a computer to connect to specific ports on the Internet, which would indicate a hacked or infected computer that was trying to connect to other computers.
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since 43% of the attacks originate from china, it seems the govt is trying to keep its own at bay. tsk tsk.
you know how the say “Where theres the shell there is the crack (hack)
I really don’t think any network can be truly unhackable. Maybe for now and into the near future no one will be able to do it, but that will change as quantum computing becomes a normal thing. If someone can make it, that means someone can break it too. That’s just how things work.
That is right. There is a way around everything you just need to find it.
Quantum bypass… Remember that light can go rebound from mirrors….or speed up throught prisms of division. What is better than a quantum system…octo core.. Octo nano crystals… Better yet…super future…safe radioation speed…then what is fastee than light… The universe mass expansion. Yes the universe gets bigger. But the ultimate above everything is the God particle. Have fun try to hack creation..you will never succeed. Xd
Unless of course u cant fit your hand in the “cookie jar”
now u ppl rlly need to get a real job!
i just think that they should be all honest so no there would be no real need for hacking. He’s scared of Snowden case..my god he ddin’t think that USA was wrong and that if usa was good Snowden wouldn’t have to whistle anything..man I ain’t from USA and thank god I’m not
C’mon. They just pulled out the internet cable. Thats all.
Any Network is hack-able, when new encryption comes out, just give it a couple of years and hackers like me, will eventually find security flaws.
Any Network can be hacked, just give it time to have us hackers find security flaws within the Network.
Well lets see what will happen here. As far as i can see now is that the quantum computing is going to be a new standard or it is already like that but trust me no network will be unhackable how i see it. maybe it will be unhackable for a year or 2 because the algorithm needs to be figured out to get the access again to everything. I see a world were hackers will eventually will be the secret minds and eyes of the government and big companies. We need to see how the firewall will stand after a couple of years.
My first ever comment and I got banned using Tor. I got to figure this stuff out, but I digress.
Those who create systems are more vulnerable than any quantum crypt. Hacking is easy if you have access to them. You need only some imagination, a spoon, and the belief you’re a patriot protecting one’s country. Or a psychopath. They could be synonymous.
It’s the same philosophy movie-makers made us aware of upon the advent of bio-keys (such as using a fingerprints and retina scans). Simply lop off the appropriate body party and bypass the security. These ideas aren’t new. We’re a violent and insane species dominated by governments that advocate the same. The difference is we’re punished for it and they justify their behaviour in the interests of national security. Now. I wonder if Professor Pan has a grand-daughter, a wife, a child, or other person of importance he cares about. People will be easier to access than computer systems.
I’d never consider such an act. I’m a non-violent simpleton pointing to the possibility that if people appoint themselves as custodians to “unhackable” systems, and I hold hackers in high regard and wish I had their skills, then one avenue is to go after the people and their loved ones. Torture isn’t a new concept. Fortunately, Government would never consider such a thing … right?
I think it’s a possible dystopia that appears to fit the trajectory of human behaviour. Let’s call it Unit 731 version 2.0.
I think hacking is fast becoming the fifth dimension of war. If I were smart enough I’d learn how to hack, but I’m admittedly unintelligent and lack smarts. China will monopolise such an arena in the future (unless they already have) and their success will promote excelled growth. Their military may not be the mightiest, but who needs a digitized military without computer systems in today’s world? These increased hacks derived from China could be their learning curve for cyberwar. All arms of war need training and practice. As the rest of the world is keen to legislate against hacking, China is providing itself the means and potential of domination in the fifth arena and it appears inherently possible China will win. Non-Chinese hackers and like-minded groups could be our next-gen of superheroes. I’ll have to settle for making them an endless stream of coffee to keep them going. I suppose we can all contribute in some way!!!
I wonder whether the western underworld, despite its illegality, are the probable saviours of our continued existence. We just don’t know if yet.
I think I’ll elaborate on some of my thoughts for an article. I’m recently awakened to the world in true Matrix fashion.
Back in my box I go. Thank you for allowing me to publish my opinions.
HI ( sorry I have alredy fogoten your name),i just read your comment and I’m impressed… I think the same, a cyberwar will come soon
I just thought on: the more Firewall with Harrison Ford has a similar theme.
Isn’t this the same claim that Apple made about their “uncrackable” OS? LOL. I give it five to six months before our tech guys figure out how to hack it without being traced.