Credit: AIT/GettyImages
Cross-border quantum communication in Europe is feasible. This is shown by a Bavarian-Austrian study (German), which investigated whether it is possible to set up a cross-border quantum communication infrastructure and whether quantum-encrypted networks of different operators can be interconnected via interfaces. As part of an EU initiative, national test networks are now being set up and interconnected in the next step.
All 27 EU member states have committed to jointly build a secure quantum communications infrastructure (QCI) in Europe. In preparation for this EuroQCI initiative, scientists from the Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Light in Erlangen (Germany) and the AIT Austrian Institute for Technology have conducted the feasibility study for a cross-border quantum-encrypted communication network of different operators on behalf of the Bavarian State Ministry for Digital Affairs and the Austrian Ministry for Climate Protection. Until now, according to the researchers, only networks whose devices come from the same supplier and are managed by the same operator could communicate with each other.
"We wanted to find out whether it is possible to interconnect networks for the exchange of cryptographic quantum keys in Austria and Bavaria in some way," Hannes Hübel from AIT's Center for Digital Safety & Security told APA. The idea is to generate and exchange symmetric - i.e. identical - keys at two points based on the laws of quantum mechanics (Quantum Key Distribution, QKD). "The advantage of such quantum keys is that they are absolutely tap-proof - even against attacks with a quantum computer," says Hübel.
This is because the current method of producing cryptographic keys could become vulnerable to attacks with increasingly powerful supercomputers as well as future quantum computers in the near future...
- Read the full article on APA Science (German)
Links
- Study: Quantum encrypted communication without borders on website of Austrian Ministry for Climate Protection (German)
- Press release of the Bavarian State Ministry for Digital Affairs (German)