SlimeMoldCrypt relies on gloopy living organism’s ever-changing network of tendrils for its dynamic, biological, encryption engine — inventor claims concept is resistant to decryption 'even by quantum machines'

A new device hopes to harden cryptography by leveraging icky-sounding organisms called slime molds. This idea might sound decidedly weird in the context of a brief headline. However, the underlying concept is that the chaotic and unpredictable tendrils of slime create patterns that are “inherently resistant to computational decryption — even by quantum machines,” according to SlimeMoldCrypt inventor Stephanie Rentschler (h/t Hackster.io).

Rentschler’s blog post indicates this invention is still a ‘speculative’ device, at this stage. You won’t find the SlimeMoldCrypt being tended by workers at Cloudflare yet, for example. Anyway, Cloudflare has its own organically random lava-lamp-powered Wall of Entropy installation in its San Francisco office.

The SlimeMoldCrypt relies on a living mold called physarum polycephalum. Rentschler indicates that its “ever-changing network of tendrils” can form the seed to appealingly unpredictable encryption keys. This sounds like a reasonable proposition, with strong parallels to the aforementioned Cloudflare technology. However, and probably because this is an Arts university project, SlimeMoldCrypt has an added emotional element…

Cultivate a Tamagochi-like emotional attachment to your slime

When using a SlimeMoldCrypt device, the operator must tend and care for the mold to keep their encryption healthy, suggests the inventor. “Your encryption strength is tied directly to your care: by managing three environmental controls, light, humidity, and nourishment, you influence the slime mold’s vitality,” says Rentschler. “The more attentively you engage, the more vibrant its cellular movement becomes, enhancing the entropy of your encryption.”

This process seems very digital-pet-like, going by my limited knowledge of such toys. And, like Tamagotchis, it is possible to kill your actually living slime mold friend(s) by not caring for it adequately. “Neglect weakens the system. If the slime mold’s activity ceases, so does your protection, exposing your information entirely,” explains the University of Applied Arts Vienna's cultured designer and researcher.

Hackster notes that inside the SlimeMoldCrypt beats a Raspberry Pi Pico development board. It isn’t made explicit by the inventor, but the slime mold image captures are likely converted to random number seeds to power the device’s encryption algorithm. That’s a similar underlying method we saw in the Cloudflare lava-lamp Wall of Entropy, mentioned above.

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