Ultra-secure data transmission is a critical component in military communications, but to be successfully deployed it must come at a reasonable cost and convenience. That is the core innovation of NuCrypt (http://www.nucrypt.net), which will demo its cost-effective technology for ultrahigh security over optical communication networks at MILCOM 2007, October 29-31 in Orlando, Fla..NuCrypt has a strong heritage in optical communication systems and has received funding from the Department of Defense. In addition, the Homeland Security Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center at Northwestern University (HSIEC) recently awarded NuCrypt a challenge grant. NuCrypt has four SBIR grants that have reached phase two.
System Exploits Optical Noise
NuCrypt uses the inherent noise in light to enhance the best state-of-the-art encryption technology while remaining compatible with conventional optical infrastructure. Its product, AlphaEta, interfaces between the transmitter or receiver and the optical channel and makes the transmitted message difficult to eavesdrop on by adding optical noise to the encryption process.
"NuCrypt is different from other approaches because it uses novel physics based methods that exploit the fundamental graininess of light, adding optical noise to bolster state-of-the-art encryption technology," said Prem Kumar, Ph.D., founder of NuCrypt. Professor Kumar also is the AT&T Professor of Information Technology in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Northwestern University.
AlphaEta uses commercially available off-the-shelf (COTS) components and is compatible with traditional optical infrastructure. It operates at high data rates, making it the first practical, physics-based ultrahigh security optical encryption technology on the market.
Since AlphaEta is built on standard optical communications, it is compatible with current long haul infrastructure. Users can deploy it without investing in additional equipment or leasing new lines. AlphaEta can be deployed over both fiber-optic (wireline) and free-space (wireless) optical networks. Because the system works with a variety of platforms, security among all communication links is assured.
"Effective security, especially in homeland security and first responder communications, is built in layers. Multiple layers of security-oriented technologies are required to thwart possible types of attacks," said Professor Kumar. "New physics-based methods for the first time allow quantifiable security characteristics and provide a better method of security for critical information."
