Quantum Physics Could Protect the Grid From Hackers?Maybe

To shut these hackers out, utility companies need better security.One group of physicists think they have a patch: quantum-encrypted power stations.They tested the idea this February, hauling several SUVs’ worth of lasers, electronics, and extremely sensitive detectors from Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Tennessee, down to Chattanooga. “We’re hoping to show that the concept can be deployed today,” says physicist Nick Peters of Oak Ridge.Using this equipment, they successfully sent and received a series of numbers known as a key using a protocol known as quantum key distribution, or QKD, which guarantees that nobody has tampered with the numbers. Peters’s group thinks that a utility company could use quantum-encrypted data to communicate with their hardware. In the Chattanooga demo, the researchers had to combine QKD with other techniques to authenticate who sent the key.EPB is planning other tests of quantum encryption, including one that sends quantum keys via wireless radio antennae instead of optical fiber, says Steve Morrison, who leads the utility company’s cybersecurity efforts.