China's 'Quantum Satellite' to Provide Hack-Proof Communication Network

The Austrians and Chinese have partnered up in a project known as the "Quantum Experiments at Space Scale" (QUESS), and a little over 3 weeks ago launched successfully the satellite. Their control center also successfully received 202 megabytes of information from it on August 19th using quantum encryption keys. It sounds like it is operational and functioning as expected.

On August 1, China launched their Quantum Experiments at Space Scale (QUESS) satellite from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert. This satellite, a joint Austrian-Chinese collaboration, is intended to facilitate long-distance experiments in quantum optics, to allow the development of secure quantum-encryption communications and quantum information teleportation technology.

This is fascinating to me - I wonder what the implications of this will be. I'm excited to see what else we can accomplish with quantum optics and quantum computing in the next several years.

The design of these systems is supposed to prevent anyone from listening or intercepting the information without messing up the key codes:

If the key-codes fall out of sync, then the parties know that someone's listening in on the transmission: because this process relies on a quantum-based process, any attempt to measure the spin-state of the transmitted photons will immediately change that spin-state, and throw the codes out of sync.

Source: www.unknowncountry.com...

I'm not too savvy with really techy-stuff but this seemed something a lot of folks at ATS would appreciate. Hope you enjoyed this thread

-FC

It's very interesting indeed.

Because of the nature of QUESS's light beams, it can only make line-of-sight communications, and can also only do so while it is not exposed to sunlight -- solar radiation will interrupt the fragile state of the photon stream's spin states

Sounds like it's not quite practical yet. I also doubt anything will be truly unhackable.

a reply to: Seiko

i was thinking that as well, for instance could you not hack into device that controls this new device and then listen and control how ever you please?

im not a tech guy(software anway) so i could be wrong.

Im sensing a catastophic failure coming soon to that satellite. via a "accidental" course correction by the Stealth Space craft we have.

originally posted by: DocScurlock1774
could you not hack into device that controls this new device and then listen and control how ever you please?

Its impossible to hack a quantum computer that has already detected a future event where you do in fact pose a threat.

Once calculated, the computer knows what quantum reality path to follow to bypass your threat.

Hence, it already knows what day you hack it. It then causes a power blackout or virus to wipe your computer clean before you discover how to hack it.

When you reach that time-frame in real time, the whole electrical grid shuts down in your area, stopping you from making your discovery. You will not know if it was a natural event or deliberate.

a reply to: Rapha

This is not how quantum cryptography or quantum computers work in the slightest.

a reply to: Rapha

i call bs

originally posted by: GetHyped
This is not how quantum cryptography or quantum computers work in the slightest.

Although...it would be pretty cool if that was how it worked. lol.

Rapha,

Quantum encryption isn't all that different from typical encryption, except for how the encryption key is passed between the communicating parties, and how it is (so far) impossible for outside parties to see the key during the passing.

a reply to: FamCore

What I don't understand is why they are using a photon beam to transmit, are they trying to say that also helps make it safe cause I do not see how.

As far as Quantum Key Distribution, that is a software component and as stated from the wiki link in the OP:

Quantum key distribution is only used to produce and distribute a key, not to transmit any message data. This key can then be used with any chosen encryption algorithm to encrypt (and decrypt) a message, which can then be transmitted over a standard communication channel. The algorithm most commonly associated with QKD is the one-time pad, as it is provably secure when used with a secret, random key.[1] In real-world situations, it is often also used with encryption using symmetric key algorithms like the Advanced Encryption Standard algorithm.

Link

You do not need a fancy device to transmit a QKD encrypted signal; you just need a sender and a receiver. It is the Encryption itself that does the protecting, not the means of communicating.

while the article suggests that:

But if the key-codes fall out of sync, then the parties know that someone's listening in on the transmission: because this process relies on a quantum-based process, any attempt to measure the spin-state of the transmitted photons will immediately change that spin-state, and throw the codes out of sync. Measuring the spin-states by the parties transmitting and receiving the data isn't a problem, but if one of the photon streams is intercepted by a third party, the code changes, and they'll know to cut the transmission. Read the original source: www.unknowncountry.com...

this implies that the transmission itself will be actively looking for people breaking into it, which to me does not sound hack proof at all, just an alarm system that goes off when someone else starts to look. If the data were not encrypted then when they looked they would see the same info as the sender and receiver.

I am not sure what the Chinese are up to, but I feel it has little to do with data encryption. That or all the Chinese hackers have taken over the Chinese government and are going to crash the net... anyway sounds neet will have to keep my eyes open.

a reply to: hubrisinxs

You're totally right here

the transmission itself will be actively looking for people breaking into it, which to me does not sound hack proof at all, just an alarm system that goes off when someone else starts to look.

But the Chinese would love to boast that they have something that's "hack-proof". News outlets also like to exaggerate details like this since headlines grab attention.

Thanks for your input - i totally agree with your post

originally posted by: hubrisinxs
this implies that the transmission itself will be actively looking for people breaking into it, which to me does not sound hack proof at all, just an alarm system that goes off when someone else starts to look.

You're on the right track, but in a practical design, if you were using a quantum encrypted system for communication, the way you would probably want it to work is to shut down communications as soon as an intrusion detection occurred.

In that case it's hack-proof in the sense that nobody can listen in, the best they can do is shut down your communication, but you don't need much in the say of hacking to shut down most communications, just a jammer or wirecutters, or a saw for really large cables.

It wouldn't make any sense to keep communicating once someone starts listening in, and expect any privacy, right? Quantum systems do have the advantage that you can tell when there's an intrusion, that you can't always tell otherwise.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

China launched a newer one August 2017 using 'quantum' tech.

They forget one thing! US has a Spy space ship.
it would deploy a robot that would open up the satellite.
and tap in to it. like they have done with all the others!

originally posted by: buddha
They forget one thing! US has a Spy space ship.
it would deploy a robot that would open up the satellite.
and tap in to it. like they have done with all the others!

Do you have a link for that? I'm quite intrigued (and I have to admit, a bit skeptical)

a reply to: FamCore

You're not the only one...

Well actually I'm not skeptical at all, I already know that pretty much everything posted and postulated in this thread is crap... Which is why my wife has heard me repeatedly mutter to myself that's not how that works!! That's not how any of this works!!

Over and over as I read each post in this thread...

I wish I was smart enough to just bang out a clean concise answer explaining how all this stuff mentioned here actually works, but I'm nowhere near smart enough to do that!

What I AM smart enough to tell you though is that it doesn't work how any of the posts in here say it does LOL.