Encryption Using Chaos

[R. A. Hettinga]

--- begin forwarded text


  Date: Fri, 27 Jan 2006 19:10:42 -0500
  To: Philodox Clips List <clips at philodox.com>
  From: "R. A. Hettinga" <rah at shipwright.com>
  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.


  --
  -----------------
  R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah at ibuc.com>
  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 <mailto: rah at ibuc.com>
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'