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AnonTechie [soylentnews.org] writes:

Get UNCRACKABLE quantum keys — from a smartphone.

Swiss research finds, quite simply, that illuminating the camera of a device like the Nokia N9 can cause quantum effects that can be used to generate keys — in effect making the smartphone a quantum random number generator (QRNG). That's a lot cheaper than the QRNG kit currently on offer — although it's more expensive than visiting the ANU's https://qrng.anu.edu.au/RainBin.php [anu.edu.au] online QRNG site. The attraction of using quantum effects is simple: quantum noise is truly random, and unlike pseudo-random number generators (PRNGs), they're not weakened by how the maths of PRNGs work. The trick is in the implementation — how quantum noise is detected, isolated, and digitised as a number, which is why QRNGs are expensive.

The researchers calculated that the resulting extracted bitstream was random enough that "it would take around 10^118 trials" to notice a deviation from a perfectly random bit string. "If everybody on earth used such a device constantly at 1Gbps, it would take 10^80 times the age of the universe for one to notice a deviation from a perfectly random bit string."

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/05/30/get_uncrac kable_quantum_keys_from_a_smartphone/ [theregister.co.uk]

http://arxiv.org/abs/1405.0435 [arxiv.org]

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