Chinese city pilots first ‘unhackable’ communication network

The city of Jinan in eastern China has successfully piloted an “unhackable” communications network using quantum communications technology, marking a possible milestone in the battle to protect critical infrastructure from the threat of cyber attacks. According to the Financial Times, the local government in Jinan will roll out the new network in August, possibly paving the way for widespread and large-scale implementation of quantum communications. Jinan is situated halfway between Beijing and Shanghai and is essentially being used as a hub for the Beijing-Shanghai quantum network. Quantum networks are built on the principle that a single quantum state cannot be accurately cloned. Any attempt to copy or interfere with the information in a quantum network will automatically generate an alert to users on either end of the network, thereby ensuring the confidentiality of any information exchange via a quantum network. “We plan to use the network for national defence, finance and other fields, and hope to spread it out as a pilot that if successful, can be used across China and the whole world,” said Zhou Fei, assistant director of Jinan Institute of Quantum Technology (IQT), the research institute involved in the project. “The successful network is a symbolic achievement in the quantum communication industry of China or even the world,” he added. Since testing began in May, more than 50 rounds of testing have been completed, ensuring more than 4,000 codes per second are generated to ensure the integrity of the network, according to IQT. Should the network be fully implemented in August, it would be the first, genuine, commercial application of the technology on a meaningful scale and it would cement China’s status as the world leader in the technology. In August 2016, China launched the world’s first quantum communications satellite and in May 2017 it unveiled the Hefei Machine, reportedly the world’s first quantum computer with the potential to drastically outperform any current super computers. The proposed Beijing-Shanghai network will be the longest land-based quantum communication channel ever developed and will be used by commercial banks to enable secure payments as well as government agencies to ensure secure and unhackable communications. China’s concern over the confidentiality of its domestic cyber space was sparked by the Edward Snowden whistleblowing in 2013 and the leaking of classified information from the US National Security Agency. Since then, China has spent huge amounts on developing quantum communication networks. As Tim Byrnes, a quantum physicist at New York University’s Shanghai campus, told the FT: “It’s amazing how quickly China has gotten on with quantum research projects that would be seen as too expensive to do elsewhere.” The commercial sector in China is also much more advanced in its use of quantum communication, said Mr Byrnes, and is much further ahead than the US or Europe in developing a commercial use for the technology. The implications for risk management and the struggle to develop secure cyber networks should mean that all eyes will be on the Beijing-Shanghai network once it goes live in August, although it is unclear just how much insight the rest of the world will be granted to the inner workings of this vitally important project.

Chinese city pilots first ‘unhackable’ communication network

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