Quantum Key Distribution: New advancement in cryptography

Until quite recently, it would take the world’s leading scientists months in order to create secret keys that allowed for secure quantum communication. Now, thanks to undergraduate students at the University of Waterloo‘s new software, these exhausting feats can be completed in a matter of seconds. The software is able to evaluate the security of any protocol for Quantum Key Distribution (or QKD).
With QKD, multiple parties are able to establish a secret key simply by sending photons back and forth. Since the laws of quantum mechanics state that a quantum objects cannot be measured without causing a disruption, any type of eavesdropping would be quickly detectable by the communicating parties using their secret code. When and if a disturbance does occur, the new software will not allow a full security breach. When you’re able to characterize the amount of information allowed during a breach, parties are able to then remove the data at the cost of the length of the resulting final key. The only concern with this problem is how to calculate the length of the final secret key for any type of protocol and the observed disturbance. Of course, all of this is a theoretical problem.

http://sciencenewsjournal.com/calculating-impenetrable-keys/