Fraud-Proof Credit Cards Through Quantum Physics

Researcher at the Eindhoven University of Technology and the University of Twente have come up with a secure way to authenticate he credit cards, IDs and biometrics with quantum cryptography. It is the method of quantum secure authentication through optical keys, which consist of sending a beam of light at cards with very special paint and later the reflection will use as the authentication mechanism.

It involves the coherent states of light with photon number, which means there are a lot of spaces for the bouncing of photons, as it can be more than one space on same time, so whenever the credit cards reflect the beam with specific paint there will be more dots or points of light will sent back than there are photons and it is well known that attackers won’t have enough amount of data to measure the entire pattern.

Research Details: 

This solution is very easy in implementation with current technology and it doesn’t depend on claim of researcher and stored data. In the process of research experts used the cards coated with millions of nano-particles in the form of white paint, which help to bounce the incoming light particles. In research experts have used the two spatial light modulators, a photon detector and a pinhole. In the process one of SLM have transformed incoming light on to desired challenge wave-front to sent it on the card and the reflected response with challenge were stored in a database.

In process each response of pair will requires 20 KB of memory or for 2,500 pairs it will require 50-MB of database and correct response were sent to a lens behind, which will be behind second SLM that focused them onto a photon detector to authenticate them.

System details: 

High spatial dimension states with photons are the main challenges for system. The created patterns will depend on the challenge as well as the position of the paint particles. In experiment each challenge was described by a 50 x 50 binary matrix, where every element corresponding to a phase was either 0 or Pi. As per the lead researcher, “All we need to make the illumination pattern complex to make sure that number of photons are lower than the number of pixels, which appears in image.

The first SLM will transform the wavefront of an incoming plane into a selected challenge wavefront at random from of database. As the challenge is created dynamically and exists only after the transformation, so it cannot be intercepted. All the response will be recorded in a phase-sensitive manner.

Nothing is impossible: 

When it comes to the failure of experiment, so system can be brake with the help of passive linear optical system, which can automatically transforms the any challenge into the correct response and it is very close to make the physical copy of key. So for full proof security must be done in the patterns of layers as different patterns require different level of security.

“Coin", The New Credit Card Replacement

A California based start-up has developed "Coin", a small device as the size of a credit card can bring up to eight cards in one, leaving it to the user to change the map to the environment through a single button. The announcement last week has not gone unnoticed by man. The California start-up Coin has finalized the development of his first-born, a device that of the size of a credit card that aims to drastically reduce the volume of your wallet by replacing up to eight credit cards, membership cards, gifts or any other type of cards with a magnetic strip.

Named as “Coin" and also developed map by the young company based in San Francisco leaves his happy owner the opportunity to move from one card to another by pressing a single circular button located on top of the card. Once selected, “Coin" functions as the cards it proposes to replace, either in an ATM or in an electronic payment terminal or any suitable type of player. The secret lies in its Coin tape - whose patent is being filed - a tape whose contents change at will.

The unit comes with a small reader that plugs into the audio port (via a jack ) for scanning the cards information migrate to the mobile application "Coin", which then synchronizes with the card via Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE or Wibree). Created by the Finnish Nokia, this protocol allows wireless transmission rate equivalent to Bluetooth (1Mb / s) for 10 times less energy consumption, and is currently the heyday of Smart watches or other activity trackers.

Battery of the Coin lasts at least for a range of almost two years (according to the details provided by the developers), and feeds a small screen that displays the last four digits of the card that you choose to use, and the date of validity and the visual cryptogram . The man behind Coin decided to embark on this adventure by analyzing the critical success of “SquareReader " means a device to convert any Smartphone payment terminal with a card reader and a mobile application.

Rather than working on a system that accepts many payment cards, they chose to play the duality trying to develop a map that meets all. The premise seemed exciting enough to entice some of the brains of Silicon Valley, combining their talents to develop a prototype worthy of the name.

The designers quickly rallied behind the idea of a single button used to activate both the tape to move from one card to another and display the data on the card chosen to avoid any possibility of confusion. They also set eight cards to limit, although the soft underbelly “Coin " is quite able to swallow more. The team took the view that the majority of potential users do not have more than eight cards, and navigation through a higher number of cards would be uncomfortable and would fall within the challenge.

The team itself reassuring regarding the protection of data as sensitive as those stored in a credit card, arguing that many companies already have full access to your bank account without the security of them is threatened. "The copy of the information contained in your credit card is not otherwise illegal , since it is your own information ," says , trying to sweep a backhand doubts about the actual safety of the device and the possibilities for fraud.

The data is encrypted on the Smartphone and the map "Coin" , but become useless if the contact between the phone and the card - via the BLE protocol - is broken more than a few minutes , the exact number of minutes yet to be determined. Finally, the use of the transmission protocol has the advantage of allowing the sending of an alert when the communication between the two devices is interrupted, for example if the user goes to a trade forgetting his card.