Lancaster Physics research revolutionises information security

Counterfeiting and forgery of digital identities are two of the costliest crimes in the world. The OECD estimates that counterfeit goods cost industry an estimated $461 billion. As the internet of things expands, the need to trust smart systems, such as the brake systems in connected cars, becomes vital. Innovative research into the applications of quantum physics has resulted in a tag from which a unique fingerprint can be read optically, a device for electronic authentication and an electronic random number generator.

Research led by Professor Robert Young developed the first physical unclonable functions using quantum physics. Young is co-founder and Chief Scientist at Quantum Base Ltd (QBL), a Lancaster University spinout that is working with a range of industries to develop products that are practically impossible to counterfeit. QBL has grown to a value in excess of £10 million and holds 15 patents with 32 pending. Commercialisation agreements have been made with two significant manufacturers to produce 10 million security tags.

Electronic and optical devices that derive their identity from atomic imperfections, and have been trademarked as Q-ID®s. Fingerprinting at the atomic scale makes the engineering challenge of producing counterfeits as difficult as possible. Patent applications were filed to cover communication security and supported by the US Air Force Office of Scientific Research. Similar concepts can be employed with biocompatible materials, paving the way for security tagging of products that are ingested, such as pills. QBL’s products include:

• Q-ID® Optical – QBL is working with OpSec Security Ltd., a market leader in fighting counterfeits for transaction cards, government documents and currency, supplying thousands of companies and 50 governments worldwide, to integrate Q-ID®s into security holograms and QR codes. The final product, a tag with a coating containing quantum materials, has a target cost of less than £0.01 per unit and can be verified simply with a smartphone. The novel approach was covered by Sky, The Times, New Scientist and BBC’s Tomorrow’s World, reaching over 8 million people.
• Q-ID® Electronic aims to increase the security of electronic devices to prevent problems such as device spoofing. QBL is working with one of the largest semiconductor fabrication companies in the world to develop a product.
• Q-RAND® - Cisco estimate the number of IP connected devices to be over 18 billion, forecasting it to rise 50% by 2023. Every IoT device requires a random number generator to communicate securely. Limits in current digital systems leaves everyone vulnerable to hacking, and large-scale information breaches. Truly random numbers can be obtained from quantum phenomena and QBL has been granted two patents to protect these concepts.