BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Whitewood Encryption Systems, Inc., a provider of crypto-security solutions, is pleased to announce that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) issued a Notice of Allowance for a patent application that addresses important practical issues that arise when employing quantum communications techniques to share cryptographic key material over fiber optic networks.
The patent application, which is entitled, “Great Circle Solution to Polarization-based Quantum Communication (QC) in Optical Fiber,” describes an advanced method for correcting the unwanted polarization effects that are encountered in today’s optical fiber networks. This enables the parties wishing to perform secure key exchanges to operate over longer distances and to be less susceptible to signal degradation. The use of the quantum mechanical properties of photons to share secret keys in a way that is fundamentally resistant to eavesdropping or man-in–the-middle attacks has been widely demonstrated in the lab, but practical limitations such as optical distortion have severely limited the number of commercial deployments. Future products that embody this patent would help to address some of those limitations.
The inventors named on the patent include Jane Nordholt and Richard Hughes, who co-founded and co-led the Quantum Communications team at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico for nearly two decades before retiring, and who are now consulting physicists for Whitewood. Their co-inventors are Raymond Newell and Charles Glen Peterson, who are still active researchers at Los Alamos and continue to support Whitewood product development activities.
This patent forms part of a portfolio of intellectual property exclusively licensed by Whitewood to commercialize quantum-based technologies to address the current and future needs for secure cryptography. Last year, the same group of scientists was awarded a patent that allowed for the miniaturization of quantum-based key distribution technology for use on existing optical fiber networks and from satellite to ground. Prior to that, they also received a patent for a technology that dramatically increased the scalability of multi-node networks that employ quantum-based key management techniques.
“It is clear that the unique attributes of quantum mechanics can have a direct benefit on security systems that use cryptography. In particular, quantum mechanics enable behavior that is perfectly random and provides a definitive measure of tampering – both critical aspects of any crypto system,” said Richard Moulds, Vice President of Strategy at Whitewood. “As the security industry considers the threat of quantum computers and their impact on today’s encryption capabilities, we must raise the security bar. In the medium to long term, this means adopting quantum-resistant algorithms and key management systems. But we can also take action in the short term. Quantum processes can be used today as a true and trusted source of random numbers and are rapidly being seen as a standard of due care when generating cryptographic keys that are fundamentally unpredictable.”
Last year, Whitewood launched its first product that incorporated Los Alamos technology: a quantum-powered random number generator (QRNG) called the Entropy EngineTM. The product solves the problem of entropy generation, the critical base to all cryptographic systems in use today, from encryption, digital signing and PKI to crypto-currency and digital payments.
Entropy is what makes random numbers random — and cryptographic keys that are derived from these random numbers rely on this unpredictability for their security. In the absence of a true random number generator, developers are forced to rely on deterministic software systems to simulate random numbers by capturing apparently random events from the local physical environment, such as user behavior, network activity or other sources of noise.
“It’s an important part of our mission to help technology move from the lab environment to full-scale commercialization,” said Duncan McBranch, Chief Technology Officer at Los Alamos. “Patents such as these lay the foundation for a strong U.S. industry in next-generation cryptographic systems. These systems are required to protect trusted transactions across the public and private sector today, and to guard against future technology breakthroughs that may make current cryptography approaches obsolete.”
Whitewood is a subsidiary company of Allied Minds (LSE: ALM). More information on Whitewood can be found at: www.whitewoodencryption.com.
About Whitewood Encryption Systems, Inc.
Whitewood® is
addressing one of the most fundamental challenges associated with all
modern cryptosystems – entropy management. Whitewood’s products exploit
quantum mechanics to meet demand for high-quality entropy used for
random data and key generation at scale. Building upon a base of quantum
cryptography capabilities developed over the course of the past two
decades at Los Alamos National Laboratory, Whitewood addresses
operational vulnerabilities in any application that employs encryption,
certificates and keys in clouds, devices and browsers. More information
on Whitewood can be found at: www.whitewoodencryption.com.
About Los Alamos National Laboratory (www.lanl.gov)
Los
Alamos National Laboratory, a multidisciplinary research institution
engaged in strategic science on behalf of national security, is operated
by Los Alamos National Security, LLC, a team composed of Bechtel
National, the University of California, BWX Technologies, Inc. and URS
Corporation for the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security
Administration. Los Alamos enhances national security by ensuring the
safety and reliability of the U.S. nuclear stockpile, developing
technologies to reduce threats from weapons of mass destruction, and
solving problems related to energy, environment, infrastructure, health
and global security concerns.
About Allied Minds
Allied Minds is an innovative U.S.
science and technology development and commercialization company.
Operating since 2006, Allied Minds forms, funds, manages and builds
products and businesses based on innovative technologies developed at
leading U.S. universities and federal research institutions. Allied
Minds serves as a diversified holding company that supports its
businesses and product development with capital, central management and
shared services. More information about the Boston-based company can be
found at www.alliedminds.com.
Allied Minds Forward-Looking Statement
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but not limited to, those risk and uncertainties described in the risk
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forward-looking statements are based on assumptions regarding the
present and future business strategies of the company and the
environment in which it will operate in the future. Each forward-looking
statement speaks only as at the date of this press release. Except as
required by law, regulatory requirement, the Listing Rules and the
Disclosure and Transparency Rules, neither the company nor any other
party intends to update or revise these forward-looking statements,
whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
