Quantum Hacking

These folks over at NTNU have discovered a way of hacking quantum cryptography by eavesdropping on the communications through flaws in the hardware.

Quantum hacking = cool.
"Inclusive" language = annoying.

Scheme of experiment

(Source) The Quantum Hacking group works in the field of quantum cryptography and quantum information. In quantum information science the information unit is not a bit, but rather a quantum bit – qubit. A qubit may not only be zero or one, but also zero and one simultaneously!

In our work, we use photons as physical representation of qubits. Quantum cryptography is a method of secure communication using qubits. Such communication is based on the Heisenberg uncertainty principle. If an eavesdropper listens to qubits, she changes them, which is inevitably noticed by the legitimate users. That is, any attempt of eavesdropping will be caught.