Cyberspace Security via Quantum Encryption

Perfect information- theoretical security requires that the meaning of an encrypted message transmitted from point A to point B be statistically independent of the ciphertext in which that message is embedded. In other words, possession and analysis of the ciphertext must yield no information about the message sent. This article briefly describes cryptographic protocols exhibiting perfect, or nearperfect, security before addressing a new quantum data encryption protocol that employs quantum noise of light at the physical layer to buttress security based on mathematical complexity. This new protocol is called Keyed Communication in Quantum Noise, or KCQ. KCQ does not presently guarantee flawless informationtheoretical security; however, because of KCQ's physical-layer encryption in the quantum noise of light, some scientists believe that it enables better security than current secure communications systems based solely on mathematical complexity.