Quantum Cryptography: A Brief Review of the Recent Developments and Future Perspectives

Quantum Cryptography is a novel approach to make the information and network world more secure. Unlike classical cryptography, quantum cryptography ensures the security of communication because it is based on the laws of Quantum Mechanics; a branch of physics that deals with the fundamental behavior of matter and their energies to the levels of subatomic particles. These particles and their intrinsic properties such as photon polarization and entanglement allow us to develop an unbreakable system of cryptographic information. Conventionally, the security has been primarily concerned with the secured distribution of secret key carried over an insecure channel. However, in Quantum Cryptographic systems the transmission of secret key is done using aforementioned laws of nature through a secured quantum channel highly susceptible to intrusion detection. Consequently, the Quantum Key Distribution (QKD), in conjunction with protocols such as BB84 protocol has emerged as an ultimate modern secured communication system. This article concentrates on briefly reviewing quantum cryptography, some recent developments and reports of its vulnerabilities.