Submission + - Thermal noise encyrption
Light Licker writes: Measuring the thermal properties of existing cables can offer encryption more secure and cheaper than quantum cryptography, says New Scientist. A scheme from Texas A&M University exploits the fact thermal noise is related to resistance. Sender and receiver transmit over a wire using resistors to manipulate the noise — any eavesdropping attempt can instantly be spotted because it will change the resistance. Messages have been transmitted this way over more than 2000 kilometres — much further than any quantum security scheme.
