Israeli researchers unveil first all-optical ‘stealth’ encryption tech

The innovative breakthrough is that if you can’t detect it, you can’t steal it.

By EYTAN HALON
Cables of optical fibre of Telecom Italia are seen in a telephone exchange in Rome (photo credit: REUTERS)
Cables of optical fibre of Telecom Italia are seen in a telephone exchange in Rome
(photo credit: REUTERS)
Researchers at BGN Technologies, the technology transfer company of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU), on Wednesday unveiled what they described as the “first all-optical encryption technology.” It provides significantly more secure and “stealthy” transmission of highly sensitive information, they said.
While information is usually encrypted using digital techniques, most data is transmitted over distance using the light spectrum on fiber-optic networks. Instead of using one color of the light spectrum to send one large data stream, the research team’s patented method uses standard optical equipment to spread the transmitted data across many colors in the optical spectrum bandwidth.
According to the researchers, the innovative solution essentially renders the fiber-optic light transmission “invisible,” enabling the transmission of weaker-encrypted data in streams hidden under increased noise levels. The team is now seeking a commercial partner to advance the technology.
“Time is running out on security and privacy of digital encryption technology, which can be read off-line if recorded and code-broken using intensive computing power,” said Prof. Dan Sadot, chairman of the Cathedra for Electro-optics at BGU. “We’ve developed an end-to-end solution providing encryption, transmission, decryption and detection optically instead of digitally.”
The all-optical technology is an extension of a digital-optical encryption method originally developed by Sadot and his research team in collaboration with Prof. Zeev Zalevsky of Bar-Ilan University.
“Basically, the innovative breakthrough is that if you can’t detect it, you can’t steal it,” Sadot said. “Because an eavesdropper can neither read the data or even detect the existence of the transmitted signal, our optical stealth transmission provides the highest level of privacy and security for sensitive data applications.”
The solution developed at BGU also uses a commercially available phase mask that changes the phase of each wavelength or color, the researchers said. The process, which also appears as noise, destroys the “coherence,” or ability to recompile sensitive data without the necessary encryption key. As the optical phase mask cannot be recorded off-line, the data is destroyed if a hacker attempts to decode the information.
“The novel, patented method invented by Prof. Sadot and his team is highly useful for multiple applications, such as high-speed communication, sensitive transmission of financial, medical or social-media-related information, without the risk of eavesdropping or jamming data flow,” said Zafrir Levy, BGN Technologies senior vice president of exact sciences and engineering. “In fact, with this novel method, an eavesdropper will require years to break the encryption key. BGN is now seeking an industry partner to implement and commercialize this game-changing technology.”


Related Tags
Bar-Ilan University