Scientists dream up a credit card that no one can forge One downside of bank cards is that, with the right equipment and know-how, theyre pretty easy to clone. Thats not just a problem for the people whose cash gets stolen, but also for the banks that are tasked with preventing fraud. It appears that credit card cloning may become a thing of the past if a theoretical system from the University of Twente becomes a reality. Rather than using numerical codes which, as Target, Sony and others will attest, are only as secure as the box theyre stored in, this new method uses quantum physics. Put very simply, instead of a magnetic strip, future credit cards would have a band of nanoparticles running down one side. When a bank wanted to assign the card to a person, a laser would fire at it, bouncing light randomly across the strip. The quantum pattern that would be left by the indentations would be sufficiently random that, like a fingerprint, itd be too resource-intensive to replicate, if it was at all possible. Unlike other high-faultin anti-fraud ideas, the team claims that this quantum secure authentication works in the real world and is, apparently, easy to implement with current tech. Now be glad we didnt try to work in any sort of puns about taking solace in quantum physics for the James Bond fans amongst you. Filed under: Misc Comments Via: CNBC, Yahoo Source: Optics ift.tt/1yV99s4
Posted on: Tue, 16 Dec 2014 12:47:11 +0000
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