Discovering Quantum Encryption and Quantum Drop
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During the last Telefónica Innovation Day 2024 we also dedicated some time to two TU projects that have to do with the world of Post-Quantum Cryptography. One of them, TU Quantum Drop (Beta), is a WeTransfer-like service that I already told you about, and the other one is TU Quantum Encryption, which is a system that allows to create an extra encryption tunnel between cloud platforms and private datacenters.
I told you about these two projects in the last event, in a small slot of three and a half minutes, and you can see it cut directly in this video that I leave posted below.
Figure 2: Telefónica Innovation Day “TU Quantum”.
If you want to know more about the history of cryptography, and the RSA encryption algorithms that we are massively using today, I recommend you to read this book Encryption of Digital Communications: from classical cipher to RSA 2nd Edition by 0xWord that will clarify many of the concepts that are important in PQC algorithms.
Figure 3: Digital communications encryption book:
from classical cipher to RSA 2nd Edition by 0xWord.
from classical cipher to RSA 2nd Edition by 0xWord.
But with the advent of quantum computers in the near future, PQC (Post-Quantum Encryption) encryption algorithms have been in the works for years, allowing the standardization of new cryptographic systems that are robust to the existence of these computers.
Figure 4: NIST PQC Time-Line
As you know, the U.S. government, at the end of 2022 launched the Quantum Computing Cybersecurity Preparedness Act, to make a security plan to protect U.S. government systems from the eventual arrival of Quantum Computers, which will shatter current encryption algorithms.
This is not only being done by the U.S. government, and companies are also working on it. We have been working for years on applying quantum encryption to communications, and on projects to detect insecure software and protocols to quantum computers, to have information on what to change to Post-Quantum Encryption (PQC) algorithms, to Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) systems, or where to start applying Quantum Random Number Generators (QRNG).
And of course, from the innovation area of Telefónica Innovación Digital we have been working for some time on tools and solutions, and two of them are TU Quantum Encryption and TU Quantum Drop. We are also fortunate to have Ignacio Cirac, one of the greats in this world, close to us.
TU Quantum Encryption
Now, going into details regarding TU Quantum Encryption, it is nothing more than an end-point with a tunnel with a VPN-PQC (Post Quantum Cryptography) encapsulation that connects directly to the Back-End server in the Data-Center, and then to the server in the cloud, establishing a double layer of encryption. First a VPN-IPSec, and then a PQC layer on top, which allows end-to-end traffic encryption between two servers through a public interface such as the Internet.
In the example, we have done it with the company Halotech which has Smart-helmets connected in Pivate 5G Networks that are connected through the Kite platform that we use at Telefónica Tech to connect IoT devices to our Internet network.
As you can see in the image above, and in the explanation in the video, this allows to have the connection through the Internet ready for the arrival of the quantum computers, by having a double PQC tunnel that also does not interfere at all in the normal operation of the system, since it goes over the original IPSec tunnel.
TU Quantum Drop
This service, which I already told you about here, can be used to have a cloud file storage and transfer service that uses PQC symmetric encryption to store documents in a cloud service, which when sent to a recipient uses asymmetric encryption based on user PQC certificates to exchange the keys so that only a specific user can download it.
Figure 9: Explanatory video of TU Quantum Drop
Now the project is in private beta, and we are looking for Beta Testers who want to be part of the team to give feedback on the solution, so if you want to sign up you can do it now on the Quantum Drop website at TU.
Figure 10: Becoming a beta tester of Quantum Drop
We know that Quantum Computers have a while to go, but from now on you will see how all the products we launch at TU and Telefónica will be quantum proofread, to make sure that we are building technology that is gradually ready to live with a world of quantum computing that we have been expecting for some time, but for which we are not yet fully prepared.
Figure 11: Becoming a beta tester of Quantum Drop
If you want to try any of the services, or want to do something related to the world of quantum encrypted communications or Post-Quantum Cryptography services we are working on, you can contact us through the contact form on the TU for Business website.
Figure 12: Contact us
As you can see, we told a lot of things in our event, but I guarantee that we are saving some for the next Mobile World Congress 2025, which we are in Delivery, Delivery, Delivery mode, and we are already working with that deadline in mind.
Greetings Evil Ones!
Chief Digital Officer of Telefónica and CEO of Telefónica Innovación Digital.
www.elladodelmal.com
