The uses and limits of quantum key distribution
ANSSI, with its German, Swedish and Dutch partners, are publishing a position paper on QKD (quantum key distribution), a technology that is receiving a great deal of attention, sometimes claiming unprecedented levels of security against attacks from both classical and quantum computers.
French Cybersecurity Agency (ANSSI), Federal Office for Information Security (BSI), Netherlands National Communications Security Agency (NLNCSA), Swedish National Communications Security Authority, Swedish Armed Forces, are publishing a technical summary document on quantum key distribution (QKD).
This publication is aimed at a wide audience and is intended to help decision-makers and policy-makers make an informed judgement on its potential and its limitations. QKD, that requires a specialised communication infrastructure, has a number of functional limitations and can only be applied in certain niche use cases. Furthermore, QKD is not yet sufficiently mature from a security perspective.
In order to enable organisations to migrate to a quantum-safe environment, a clear priority should be given to the deployment of post-quantum cryptography (PQC) – a technology that differs much less from existing cryptography than QKD. »