People like Gregoire Ribordy, the chief executive of ID Quantique, are therefore encouraging the hackers in their activities.

ECONOMIST: Secure cryptography is only as safe as its weakest link

They stole information from a research version of a system made by ID Quantique, a Swiss firm that is trying to commercialise quantum cryptography, by taking advantage of synchronisation signals that pass between Alice and Bob.

ECONOMIST: Secure cryptography is only as safe as its weakest link