Why bother?
When confidential data is communicated, a leak can be devastating and costly: regulatory fines for the institution, personal liability for executives, lasting reputational damage, and lost customers and revenue.
While symmetric AES encryption is deemed long-term secure, it requires the same key at both endpoints. Today's computational methods for distributing those keys are not long-term secure: they are threatened by AI-assisted attacks and by upcoming quantum computers. Even new post-quantum cryptography (PQC) methods are not immune – they can be broken through implementation weaknesses today, or against their mathematical hardness in the future.
For data that must stay secure for years, the attacks are already running: attackers copy the key exchange and encrypted communication today and store them. Later, once they can break the key-exchange method, they decrypt and misuse what was revealed. These are "harvest now, decrypt later" (HNDL) attacks.
AI-assisted attacks on cryptographic implementations are already happening, and quantum computers, powerful enough to break today's classical key exchange, are expected very soon (2030–2033). The threat is here, today.
Why QKD?
Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) uses the quantum-physical properties of photons to distribute keys. This distribution cannot be manipulated or eavesdropped without immediate detection. Its security rests on physical laws, not on a computational algorithm that could be broken. As NASA puts it [i], breaking a quantum protocol would require violating fundamental physical principles – so that even an adversary with immense computational power, quantum or classical, cannot break it.
QKD guarantees what computational key exchange cannot: keeping your communication secure forever.
[i] https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/quantum-communication-101-final.pdf
Why Quantum Optics Jena?
Quantum Optics Jena's ELVIS QKD systems are based on entangled photons, where security depends only on the receivers. With this source-independent QKD protocol, an attacker gains nothing by compromising the source. When it comes to security, choose the best.
ELVIS systems are highly reliable for continuous operation in data centers, backed by responsive service, with redundant configurations for uninterrupted operation. They are cost efficient, integrate easily with existing infrastructure, and offer comprehensive configuration and monitoring tools for the operator.
From two-node links to large multi-node networks over long distances, our systems support all kinds of infrastructure – and grow with your requirements.
We deliver on our promise: Secure. Reliable. Scalable.
