Quantum advance paves way for 'un-hackable' digital future

THE RRI-LED RESEARCHERS HAVE SIMPLIFIED THE PROCESS TO ACHIEVE CERTIFIED RANDOMNESS

- Kabir Firaque

Scientists led by a senior quantum physicist at the Raman Research Institute (RRI) in Bengaluru have shown that true digital security is possible.

The team of researchers has generated secure, certified random numbers by working on a single unit of quantum information. This key step, which does away with earlier complex setups, opens up what they called "a path toward un-hackable digital security".

Random numbers are a sequence of numbers that is not predictable. Outside of the lab, they are especially important in the domain of secure communications, for instance in the generation of OTP in banking services or keeping data secure in strategic sectors. The OTP you receive, the number you type in a two-factor authentication system, and end-toend encryption on your WhatsApp chats all depend on this randomness.

Actual randomness, however, cannot be generated by classical computers alone. In theory, these random numbers can be "guessed" by hackers because they are generated by a predictable set of rules.