SK Telecom and Deutsche Telekom announced what they call as "Quantum Alliance" at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona to fight cybersecurity threats leveraging quantum computing capabilities. The two operators recently collaborated with Ericsson to demonstrate an intercontinental 5G roaming trial network.
Industrial espionage and cyber-attacks by hostile intelligence services are an increasing threat. In turn, in the not-too-distant future, quantum computing may provide such powerful performance that it could crack encryption algorithms that are currently considered secure, said the operators in a statement.
This would render today's common cryptography methods virtually useless and make server access, data links and documents freely accessible and viewable with little effort. Quantum computing, a hot research topic at present, would undermine the foundations of current encryption methods and with them, the security of the entire Internet. But even today, there is a need for tap-proof communication channels for key exchange.
The Alliance's primary objective is to ensure that the technical prerequisites for secure communications continue to be met in the future. They aim to work along with other operators and hardware vendors to define and implement technical standards. As a second step, the alliance will aim to develop flexible services and security solutions for secure communications.
At the same time, SK Telecom partnered with for the development of a prototype quantum cryptography system that combines the South Korean company's quantum key server with an encryption device from Nokia.
Cha In-hyok, EVP and Head of IoT Business Division
SK Telecom believes that the co-establishment of the Quantum Alliance with Deutsche Telekom will bring us closer to realizing this goal, while also creating new valuable business opportunities in areas including quantum-safe communications, the Internet of Things and big data.
Claudia Nemat, Deutsche Telekom, Board Member for Technology and Innovation
With the Quantum Alliance, we are taking the lead in a technical development that will revolutionize IT: we will help to ensure that communications remain secure even after a breakthrough is made in quantum computing and the first computers hit the market.
