--- begin forwarded text
Date: Fri, 27 Jan 2006 19:10:42 -0500
To: Philodox Clips List
From: "R. A. Hettinga"
Subject: Encryption Using Chaos
http://online.wsj.com/article_print/SB113838965445358466.html
The Wall Street Journal
January 27, 2006 3:20 p.m. EST
MIT TECHNOLOGY REVIEW
Encryption Using Chaos
Lasers that "hide" messages could mean
more foolproof security in online transactions
By KATE GREENE
January 27, 2006 3:20 p.m.
You know that eBay Inc. purchase you made? The online credit card payment
you sent? The bank statement you checked at your computer? These
transactions contained sensitive information about you that, for the most
part, is kept private thanks to encryption software that scrambles the
message before it's sent (and unscrambles it once it's received by the
intended party).
But software is not the only way to protect digital information. Now
researchers are looking at ways to exploit lasers with chaotically
fluctuating signals, to add an extra layer of privacy to messages sent over
fiber-optic lines. By slipping a message into such a laser beam, decrypting
the message requires a nearly identical laser to receive it -- a process
that's not readily accessible to most people.
To demonstrate the feasibility of the technology, Claudio Mirasso of the
Universitat de les Illes Balears in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, and his team
recently showed that chaotic lasers can send and receive a message over
about 75 miles of commercially laid fiber optics. Even more impressive: The
transmission rate was one gigabyte of chaos-encrypted information per
second -- comparable to that of most commercial data transmissions. It was
a major step that, for the first time, put this exotic encryption technique
into the real world.
1
Also in MIT Technology Review (www.technologyreview.com2)
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In order to send a message within a chaotic beam of light, Mr. Mirasso
explains, the message must first be converted into an optical signal. It is
then fed into a laser that passes it along within the laser's beam. The
researchers then heighten the naturally occurring chaos in the beam and
feed the message into it. This message-plus-chaos is sent to a nearly
identical laser that receives it within its lasing cavity -- the innards of
a laser where photons are stimulated and emitted.
At this point, Mr. Mirasso says, a phenomenon called chaotic
synchronization takes over. This process, admittedly not entirely
understood by scientists, makes the receiving laser's output match the
message-plus-chaos of the sending laser. Then, to decrypt the original
message, the chaos -- a known signal from the sending laser -- is
subtracted from the receiving laser's beam, revealing the hidden
information.
Before chaotic message encryption hits the big time, however, it must be
shown to be as robust as traditional optical signals. In the Jan. 1 issue
of IEEE Photonic Technology Letters, a group has announced that they've
tested the mettle of a chaos-encrypted message by relaying it through an
intermediary laser. This step is crucial, explains Alan Shore of the
University of Wales in Bangor, because commercial systems use relay
stations to boost the distance a message can travel, and chaos-encrypted
messages need to be just as strong as other information sent through a
network.
Mr. Shore's research also shows that it is possible to "send out messages
to more than one receiver and extract messages at an intermediary stage," a
common occurrence in standard optical networks.
Mr. Mirasso's next project involves developing "compact devices for
chaos-based optical communication." Still, he notes, some issues with the
technology need to be addressed. For instance, researchers still need to
quantify the level of security they can offer "compared to other
[techniques] like software-based encryption or quantum cryptography," he
says.
Mr. Mirasso estimates that using lasers to keep information private is
roughly five years away from commercial viability.
This article appeared Jan. 24, 2006 on the Web site of Technology Review,
an MIT Enterprise.
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R. A. Hettinga
The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation http://www.ibuc.com/
44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
"... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
[predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to
experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'
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R. A. Hettinga
The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation http://www.ibuc.com/
44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
"... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
[predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to
experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'