Short Bytes: China has gifted their defense officers and government executives a new quantum network which is being called unhackable. The highly secure quantum communication system is expected to be up for commercial use by the end of August in the City of Jinan, which is a ‘node’ in the 2000-km quantum link built between Beijing and Shanghai.
According to a report by China Daily, China is all set to launch their quantum network next month in the city of Jinan. The network will allow around 200 people of the government, military, and finance to establish communication over a highly secure network, according to The Telegraph.
The quantum network, which has gone through 50 test rounds since May, has been built at the cost of 120 million yuan (approx. 19.5 million USD). It’s capable of encrypting around 4,000 pieces of data per second and transferring them to 200 terminals spread across the city.
According to the publication, the network has been in development since 2013 and last year China completed the 2000-km quantum link which connects Beijing to Shanghai and passes through Jinan, Hefei, and Anhui. Around 99% success rate has been achieved when exchanging files, faxes, and secure telephone communication.
The reason why the quantum network is being called ‘unhackable’ is that the information is transferred using light particles and the encryption is based on a phenomenon called Quantum Entanglement.
If a hacker tries to mess with the network, the entanglement of the light particles disrupts due to their quantum nature, stopping the communication, and the authorities also get alerted. Such a network is, thus, almost impossible to hack.
Moreover, a technique called quantum key distribution is used to exchange messages, which makes the quantum network more secure than communications systems currently being used.
For now, the network would be used primarily by military and government bodies but if the pilot phase goes well, future plans could include spreading the network across China and, maybe, overseas. The quantum network is another name in China’s list of unhackable things. Last year, they launched an unhackable quantum satellite which established its first successful communication in June 2017.
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