Point of Contact

“I’m coming to that, if you’ll indulge me for just another moment.” Heng gathered his thoughts. “Cyberwarfare is the latest offensive technology being deployed by the great powers and, to a lesser extent, smaller state actors like Iran, and even non-state actors like criminal gangs and terror groups. But history teaches us that every new offensive technology gives rise to a defensive countermeasure, and quantum cryptography is the defensive countermeasure against cyberwarfare. The country that first masters it will have a strategic advantage over those actors who haven’t, and the quantum-cryptography arms race is raging in full force. I’m proud to say that Dalfan is on the cutting edge of that race.”

“I’m sorry, Dr. Heng, but I’m still somewhat unclear as to what quantum cryptography exactly is,” Jack said.

Heng smiled, embarrassed. “I apologize. I’m not used to speaking with non-industry people anymore, only physicists and software engineers. Are you familiar with the basics of quantum mechanics?”

“The Heisenberg uncertainty principle, Schrödinger’s cat, and all of that?”

“Precisely. Until recently, the best defense we could come up with against cyberattacks was complicated mathematical algorithms — essentially, passcodes. But mathematicians and coders came up with even more aggressive attacks, including the use of Shor’s quantum algorithm to solve these highly complex mathematical passcodes. So now we’re turning away from mathematical defenses to the world of physics — using quantum mechanical means such as entanglement to establish and maintain secure communications networks.”

“Entanglement?” Jack asked.

“Yes, as it turns out, we’ve known since the 1930s that certain pairs of particles seem to ‘know’ each other.” Heng pointed the ends of his two index fingers at each other, manipulating them to illustrate his point. “They are entangled in such a way that when one of them is measured for, say, spin in one direction, the other particle will register spin in exactly the opposite direction at the exact same moment.”

“How is that even possible?”

“I can show you the equations that prove it. I can even show you experiments that demonstrate how you can change the state of one entangled particle in the future and it will change the state of a particle in the past, even after the first one has been destroyed.”

Paul shook his head. “I’m sorry, but that doesn’t even sound real.”

Heng shrugged. “I know. That’s why Einstein called it ‘spooky’ science. But believe me, quantum entanglement is real. In fact, it’s so real that the Chinese just launched the very first quantum satellite into space last year. It’s testing not only quantum entanglement, but quantum teleportation for use in secure communications.”

Jack rolled his eyes. “Teleportation? You’re kidding, right?”

“Not like in Star Trek, where you’re beaming bodies up and down in transporters. Quantum teleportation is a fancy way of saying instantaneous communication. In other words, if two particles are entangled across a great distance, you can ‘talk’ to one particle on one end and you ‘hear’ on the other end at exactly the same moment. There’s nothing flying through the air to intercept, no software to hack. Best of all, there’s no time lost.”

“So if you had a quantum radio transmitter on Jupiter you could speak to a quantum receiver on earth with no lag time,” Jack said.

“Exactly, though that kind of device is many years away. But quantum entanglement is what will finally allow for an unhackable quantum Internet.”

Jack threw up his hands. “Okay, mind blown. What’s Dalfan’s role in all of this?”

“The Chinese are trying to build their quantum network, but there are still some big holes in it. In fact, all of the quantum networks have problems on two levels. We’re attacking some of those problems.”

“Be gentle with me, Doc, but explain to me in the simplest possible terms what problems you’re attacking.”

“On the first level, we’re developing new quantum algorithms. The truth of the matter is we don’t have the software we need to run the hardware. It’s all completely new stuff. Google’s new D-Wave quantum computer is thirty-six hundred times faster than the fastest supercomputer — a hundred million times faster, literally, than your laptop. But those superfast quantum computers and the quantum encryption we need to protect them with all run on quantum algorithms — something everyone is still trying to figure out, including us.” Heng smiled. “But we’re doing okay.”

“And the second level?”

“Right now, quantum networks depend on expensive equipment linked by fiber-optic cables. We’re many years away from a practical, ubiquitous quantum Internet.”

Heng opened a desk drawer and pulled out a smartphone.