BOCA RATON, Fla., Nov. 30, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Florida
Atlantic University and SK Telecom, the largest telecommunications
company in South Korea, have
entered into a research and education agreement to collaborate on
the development of secure communications using quantum physics.
FAU and SK Telecom will work jointly to conduct basic quantum
physics research for applications in cryptology, hardware
engineering and quantum computing. SK Telecom will work with
researchers across FAU including faculty in the Center for
Cryptology and Information Security, the Department of Computer and
Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, the Department of
Mathematical Sciences, and the Department of Physics.
As a leading player in quantum cryptography, in September, SK
Telecom demonstrated its quantum cryptography system and a true
random number generator (QRNG) at the U.S. Capitol Hill and entered
into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the International
Transportation Innovation Center to jointly develop quantum
cryptography technologies for connected vehicles.
As an extension of this partnership, FAU recently co-hosted the
2015 Korea-U.S. Joint Workshop on Quantum Information at the Korea
Institute for Advanced Studies in Seoul,
South Korea.
"Cyber-attacks or 'criminal attacks' and security breaches put
millions of people across the world at risk for having their
sensitive information in the wrong hands," said Daniel C. Flynn, Ph.D., vice president for
research at FAU. "We are very pleased to be working with a pioneer
in quantum cryptology to develop secure communications solutions
for a number of industries such as healthcare, finance and banking
as well as government and military institutions."
Recent research findings from the Ponemon Institute, show that
criminal attacks are now the leading cause of data breach in
healthcare. Ninety-one percent of healthcare organizations had one
data breach; 39 percent experienced two to five data breaches; 40
percent had more than five data breaches over the past two years.
In addition, 59 percent of business associates experienced data
breaches; 14 percent experienced two to five data breaches; 15
percent experienced more than five data breaches over the same
period.
"Quantum cryptography is being highlighted as the leading
technology in the next-generation security system. SK Telecom will
work closely with FAU to develop diverse secure communication
solutions based on its quantum cryptography technologies," said
Alex Jinsung Choi, chief technology
officer of SK Telecom.
Standard encrypted electronic communications uses a
predetermined secret key to transmit data. However, this
predetermined secret key is vulnerable to electronic interception
and/or hacking and it's easy to copy the transmitted data in the
secured shell. Also, there are many known ways to find out the
secret key and principle, enabling the eavesdropper to eventually
retrieve the original data.
Quantum cryptography on the other hand, uses the laws of physics
to block eavesdropping attempts. This system uses quantum signals
that are fragile like bubbles. If an eavesdropper attempts to find
out the secret key, the quantum signals are destroyed just like
bubbles, thereby making eavesdropping impossible.
With current cryptography systems the secret key is being used
repeatedly. With quantum cryptography systems, because the new
secret keys are being generated continuously, they can be refreshed
in less than one minute, allowing data to be securely
transmitted.
"Any attempts to intercept the key will destroy the bubble,
making it impossible to intercept. And best of all, the key can be
refreshed within a minute," said Flynn. "Quantum cryptography is
going to globally revolutionize how we protect our data."
About Florida Atlantic
University:
Florida
Atlantic University, established in 1961, officially opened
its doors in 1964 as the fifth public university in Florida. Today, the University, with an annual
economic impact of $6.3 billion,
serves more than 30,000 undergraduate and graduate students at
sites throughout its six-county service region in southeast
Florida. FAU's world-class
teaching and research faculty serves students through 10 colleges:
the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, the College of
Business, the College for Design and Social Inquiry, the College of
Education, the College of Engineering and Computer Science, the
Graduate College, the Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College, the Charles
E. Schmidt College of Medicine, the Christine E. Lynn College of
Nursing and the Charles E. Schmidt College of Science. FAU is
ranked as a High Research Activity institution by the Carnegie
Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. The University is
placing special focus on the rapid development of critical areas
that form the basis of its strategic plan: Healthy aging, biotech,
coastal and marine issues, neuroscience, regenerative medicine,
informatics, lifespan and the environment. These areas provide
opportunities for faculty and students to build upon FAU's existing
strengths in research and scholarship. For more information,
visit www.fau.edu.
About SK Telecom:
SK Telecom (NYSE: SKM,
KSE: 017670), established in 1984, is Korea's largest
telecommunications company with more than 28 million mobile
subscribers, accounting for around 50% of the market. The company
reached KRW 17.164 trillion in
revenue in 2014. As the world's first company to commercialize
CDMA, CDMA 2000 1x, CDMA EV-DO and HSDPA networks, SK Telecom
launched the nation's first LTE service in July 2011. SK Telecom also became the world's
first mobile carrier to commercialize 150Mbps LTE-Advanced in
June 2013 and 225Mbps LTE-Advanced in
June 2014 through Carrier
Aggregation(CA). In line with its efforts to swiftly move towards
the next-generation mobile network system, or 5G, it successfully
commercialized 300Mbps tri-band LTE-A CA. As of the end of
September 2015, the company has over
18.5 million LTE and LTE-Advanced subscribers. Based on its
strength in network operations business, SK Telecom is seeking new
growth engines through three innovative platforms namely Lifestyle
Enhancement Platform, Advanced Media Platform and IoT Service
Platform. For more information, please visit
www.sktelecom.com or email to
skt_press@sk.com.
MEDIA CONTACTS: Gisele
Galoustian
561-297-2676, ggaloust@fau.edu or
Cindy Kang
(822) 6100-3836, psyche@sk.com
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SOURCE Florida Atlantic
University