Quantum Credit Cards Impossible to Hack
In a report issued this week, a team of scientists from the Netherlands is proposing a security system for credit cards and passports that would leverage the power of quantum physics. Dubbed quantum-secure authentication (QSA), the technology uses a strip of nanoparticles on the card that would be virtually impossible to hack.
Quantum Teleportation Goes Farthest Distance Yet
It gets a little complicated, but here goes: Credit cards that use magnetic strips — or even embedded chips — are relatively easy to exploit for fraudulent purposes. So long as a hacker can get to the information stored within the card, it can be copied or emulated. The question-and-answer authentication process used in existing systems is fundamentally vulnerable.
With the quantum security system, the card’s nanoparticle strip would be zapped with a laser in such a way as to create a unique pattern that’s impossible to crack. That’s because the system harnesses the qualities of light in the quantum state, in which photons can exist in multiple places at the same time. The event that created the pattern could never be duplicated or observed.
More: Quantum Credit Cards Impossible to Hack : Discovery News