Michele Mosca is co-founder and deputy director of the Institute for Quantum Computing, as well as a founding member of the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics.
Quantum computing and encryption is a field that is still in its infancy, but it has the potential to solve a number of problems for organizations that manage critical data and need to transport it securely.
Quantum encryption relies on the peculiar world of quantum physics to transmit encryption keys that are used to decode messages. If a key is intercepted in transit, it changes from the moment it is “captured” and can no longer be used. It sounds like science fiction, but it is one of the tenets of the quantum world – to observe something, you have to change it. There’s a quick introduction to the subject here, if you want to learn more.
