VERA – Forward Visions on the European Research Area

VERA is funded by the European Union's FP7 programme for research,
technological development and demonstration under grant agreement no 290705

Prospects of Quantum Key Distriubtion: Making Data Communication Secure for the Future

Code: D17

Primary project information

Lead: Austrian Institue of Technology, ETSI (European Telecommunications Standards Institute)
Type of activity: Foresight project
Date conducted: 2008-2010
Date of Publication: May 2011
Duration: 2 YEARS
Summary: The application of the highest information-theoretically secure cryptographic primitives for securing data transmission was long considered unfeasible because of a missing primitive for the distribution of the necessary cryptographic keys between sender and receiver ensuring a comparable level of security. With quantum key distribution (QKD), a technology has been invented that enables the generation and distribution of appropriate cryptographic. ETSI started a standardisation initiative including foresight elements looking into the next ten years of QKD applications.
Financed by: European Commission, DG Infso, ETSI
Budget: 250,000 EURO
Research area/market/industry/sector: Quantum Key Distribution, Communication
Main report (full title): Quantum Key Distribution;
Use Cases http://www.etsi.org/deliver/etsi_gs/QKD/001_099/002/01.01.01_60/gs_QKD002v010101p.pdf

GRAND CHALLENGES

Economic Challenges: More and more businesses see the need to increase the security and reliability of their networks and have to prove this to their custormers
Economic Challenges Shortlist: business needs to increase security and reliability of data transfer and data storage systems
Societal Challenges: increasing security breaches and information leaks in all societal subsystems
Societal Challenges Shortlist: deal with growing threat of security breaches and information leaks in all societal subsystems
Technical Challenges: secure communication networks - ultra-secure encryption of sensitive data sent by banks, hospitals and government organisations; need for long-term security of data; secure confidentiality and autheticity in communication
Technical Challenges Shortlist: ensure secure communication networks; assure security of sensitive data sent by banks, hospitals and government organisations; long-term security of data; secure confidentiality and autheticity in communication
Cross-cutting Challenges: (Societal - technical) Participation in the information society means becoming more and more dependent on data exchange via electronic communication networks; relying on their proper guarding of communication confidentially, integrity, and property of origin and destination
Cross-cutting Challenges Shortlist: growing dependence on data exchange via electronic communcation networks; need to rely on proper guarding electronic communication networks: confidentiality, integrity and property of origin and destination

Summary of relevant aspects

Connecting fields: information technologies, data security
Background information: Of all quantum technologies quantum cryptography – or more precisely quantum key distribution – is nearest to market application, say market analysts. Some companies already offer off-the-shelf market products, which have proven their reliability in several demon-stration projects and field tests. In the fall of 2007, the Geneva government used the technology provided by the Geneva-based start-up Id Quantique to secure the network processing voting results. Nuclear Research (CERN), University of Geneva (UNIGE) and the Engineering School of Geneva (HE-PIA) has been designed and deployed to demonstrate the reliability and robustness of QKD technology for encryption over metropolitan area networks (MAN; http://www.swissquantum.com/). The first QKD network in Japan was launched in October 2010 as a live demonstration of an operational quantum key distribution network in the Tokyo metropolitan area.

Scenarios

Who benefits from the actions taken?: Banks, IT companies, defense, governments, aerospace industry

Meta information

Time horizon: 10 years
Methods: Group discussions ("Standardisation Group") every six months over a two-year period, single and group interviews, desk research, bibliometric research, world-cafüe-like setting to assess future prospets and drivers and inhibitor for their realisation
Target Group: developers and prospective users of QKD technology
Objectives: bring the developing scientists and prospective commercial users together to allow them to learn from each other what the technology is able to deliver and what is needed for practical application
Countries covered: Germany, Austria, GB, Malaysia, France, Spain, USA, Canada, Italy, Turkey
ERA actors/stakeholders mentioned: European Commission, DG Infso, ETSI
Geographic scope:

Entry Details

Rapporteur: Katharina Jarmai
Rapporteur's organization: AIT
Entry Date: 26.07.2012