The Japanese government has requested to invest money in quantum cryptography so that it can be made functional by 2027. If this is achieved, the system used in satellites and lasers will become so secure that it cannot be hacked by any means. The Japanese government is planning to invest in a space-based security system so that its secrets can be kept safe. The system will be considered virtually unhackable if it uses quantum cryptography communications in it.
Japan has its security on high alert since North Korea started making threats of nuclear action its neighbor and the US. Local media of Japan is saying that he plans to test the quantum cryptography system is in the year 2022 and the system will be fully functional by 2027. China also announced that it has already successfully tested its quantum-based security system in June 2017. These systems use the properties of quantum mechanics to a communication system.
The proposed system will work when an orbiting satellite receives instructions to deliver a set of keys to both sender and receiver. The sender uses this key to encrypt its data and the receiver uses its key to decode the data. The keys are sent through a powerful laser beam of light particles. Each user has its own separate key. Along with this, the system will detect any attempts to intercept the communication sending alerts to its administrators and change the information that was being sent.
The Japanese government has requested 300 million Yen from the budget of the year 2018 in order to start the project. It will be developed by a satellite hosted laser capable of the communication. The recently developed laser will be tested in the year 2022 using either the satellites or the aircrafts that are capable of high-altitude flights. The system once completed will be operating by 2027. Japanese newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun reported that the government is expecting to team up with private companies to take its project ahead.
All the countries in the world are trying to upgrade their communication security systems since the tension in the air over privacy and alliances is rising up. China’s quantum communication system is known as quantum key distribution (QKD). When the system is in use by both the users, both of them are alerted in case of any tampering. Any information that was being sent changes at once as soon as a tempering is detected.
Zhou Fei, Assistant Director of Jinan Institute of Quantum Technology say about the network that, “We plan to use the network for national defense, 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.” He said that the system will have a global impact. China is among those countries who are leading in the world in quantum technology research and adoption. Quantum physicist Tim Byrnes, spoke to media about the network and said, “China has achieved staggering things with quantum research… It’s amazing how quickly China has gotten on with quantum research projects that would be too expensive to go elsewhere… quantum communication has been taken up by the commercial sector much more in China compared to other countries, which means it is likely to pull ahead of Europe and US in the field of quantum communication.” The Chinese QKD system is ground-based and is limited to a short distance for now. The Japanese project, on the other hand, can transmit data to several thousand kilometers. But this project is still a theory.