Researchers have developed a form of “quantum encryption” to help protect the data on smartphones.

Security provisions in the current generation of smartphones are limited to simple passwords but with phones being increasingly used for applications such as online banking, increased security is required.

Researchers at Los Alamos National Laboratory have developed a minitransmitter that encodes an encryption key on a single photon (light particle). Any change in the photon’s quantum information is detected as an attempted hack, forcing the transaction in progress to be cancelled.