Quantum Secured Credit Cards...

A team of researchers from the Netherlands has harnessed the power of quantum mechanics to create a fraud-proof method for authenticating a physical 'key' that is virtually impossible to thwart. Credit: The Optical Society (OSA) and MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology, Complex Photonic Systems Department of the University of Twente

Credit card fraud and identify theft are serious problems for consumers and industries. Though corporations and individuals work to improve safeguards, it has become increasingly difficult to protect financial data and personal information from criminal activity. Fortunately, new insights into quantum physics may soon offer a solution.

As reported in The Optical Society's (OSA) new high-impact journal Optica, a team of researchers from the Netherlands has harnessed the power of quantum mechanics to create a fraud-proof method for authenticating a physical "key" that is virtually impossible to thwart.

This innovative security measure, known as Quantum-Secure Authentication, can confirm the identity of any person or object, including debit and credit cards, even if essential information (like the complete structure of the card) has been stolen. It uses the unique quantum properties of light to create a secure question-and-answer (Q&A) exchange that cannot be "spoofed" or copied. *

Optica: Quantum-secure authentication of a physical unclonable key
Sebastianus A. Goorden, Marcel Horstmann, Allard P. Mosk, Boris Škorić, Pepijn W.H. Pinkse
Physic arXiv: Quantum-Secure Authentication with a Classical Key
Sebastianus A. Goorden, Marcel Horstmann, Allard P. Mosk, Boris Škorić, Pepijn W.H. Pinkse
Physics Today: Quantum security for your credit card, Richard J. Fitzgerald
* Phys.org: Fraud-proof credit cards possible with quantum physics