(c) Michael Wriessnig
(c) AIT
The AIT team from the “Optical Quantum Technologies” research group at AIT took part in this year's ADIC from January 28-30, 2026. As part of the Defense Quantum Challenge, the AIT team, led by Hannes Hübel, Head of Competence Unit, conducted a penetration test for quantum cryptography (QKD). The background to this demo: To ensure trust and acceptance of this new encryption technology, QKD systems in use must also be secure against classic hacker attacks. The setting of the pen test position was therefore to install a quantum cryptography network and expose it to cyberattacks in order to demonstrate the resilience of conventional attacks on future quantum-secured communication networks.
This was also pointed out by AIT Scientific Director Andreas Kugi in his keynote speech on the second day of the conference, where he highlighted the contribution made by the Austrian research and business community.
Further information and video review: https://inno4def.at/