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Photonics in Cybersecurity: An Integrated Approach

21.01.2025

Previous article of the newsletter, week 04:

<-- The Future of Chips: The Revolution of Photonic Processors for AI

Photonics, the science of manipulating photons, has revolutionized not only the capacity but also the quality of data transmission over the last 40 years. Optical fibers transmit information through light pulses, and this technology is now finding innovative applications in AI processors through photonic neural networks, promising speeds in the PetaFLOPS range (FLOPS, an acronym for Floating Point Operations Per Second, indicates the number of floating-point operations a CPU performs in one second) with drastically reduced energy consumption.

In the context of cybersecurity, photonics offers significant advantages over traditional communication methods, introducing a level of physical security that is difficult to compromise.

Quantum Key Distribution: Real Quantum Security

Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) leverages the principles of quantum mechanics by transmitting quantum states of individual photons between two points to generate secure cryptographic keys. The BB84 protocol is based on the polarization of photons in four possible states. If an intruder attempts to "observe" these photons, Heisenberg's uncertainty principle applies: any measurement alters the quantum state of the photon, immediately revealing the eavesdropping attempt.

After transmission, the sender and receiver perform a key reconciliation to ensure no eavesdropping occurred, guaranteeing the security of the final key.

Photonic Sensors: Advanced Physical Protection

Photonic sensors detect minute changes in the integrity of optical fibers with sub-millimeter precision using techniques such as Optical Time-Domain Reflectometry (OTDR). Distributed Temperature Sensing (DTS) systems add another layer of security by detecting thermal fluctuations that may indicate tampering.

A physical optical tap can divert part of the light signal without disrupting the main transmission. To counter this threat, modern systems implement continuous optical performance monitoring and real-time spectral analysis.

Direct Processing: The Future of Security

Integrated photonic circuits (PICs) manipulate photons without intermediate electro-optical conversions, reducing latency from microseconds to nanoseconds. In network traffic monitoring, they can analyze data streams in the terabit-per-second range. Photonic neural networks can perform inference operations with latency below a microsecond, crucial for rapid responses to cyberattacks.

Integrating photonics into security infrastructures requires scalable solutions compatible with 5G and 6G networks. Standardizing photonic technologies is a priority, with organizations like ITU-T and ETSI working on developing specific standards. Quantum-safe resilience becomes critical with the advent of quantum computers, while pilot projects for QKD networks already demonstrate the feasibility of this technology.

Photonics is redefining cybersecurity paradigms, from quantum key generation to neuromorphic processing. This technology demands a holistic approach: combining photonic innovations with proven traditional security practices remains essential for effective and resilient protection systems.