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Optical Fiber Communication Conference

Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) and the Quantum Internet: The challenges facing this new technology

Andrew Lord, Catherine White, E. Hugues-Salas

Published Jan 1, 2021• 6 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We describe the status of Quantum Key Distribution and highlight the developments required for this technology and describing a full QKD network. We set out the major differences between QKD and the Quantum Internet.
DOI
10.1364/ofc.2021.th2a.1

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Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) networks have emerged as a revolutionary technology in ensuring secure communication in the digital age. By leveraging the principles of quantum mechanics, QKD allows two parties to establish a secret key securely, which can subsequently be used for encrypting and decrypting sensitive information. While QKD holds immense promise for enhancing cybersecurity, it also presents several challenges that necessitate further research to achieve its full potential. The research presented here examines the development of QKD networks, their real-world use, as well as the general QKD network architecture and the most recent advancements in QKD network deployments.
A large amount of sensitive data must remain accessible for decades or even centuries (e.g, electronic health records, governmental documents). Communicating such data over the Internet requires long-term secure communication channels, which, in turn, require robust key distribution protocols. Currently used key distribution protocols, however, are not designed for long-term security. Their security is either threatened by quantum computers, or, in principle, due to their reliance on computational problems. Quantum key distribution (QKD) protocols are information-theoretically secure and thereby offer long-term security against computational attacks. However, significant obstacles to their real-world use remain. This position paper, which is a multidisciplinary effort of computer scientists and physicists, systematizes knowledge about challenges of and strategies for realizing long-term secure Internet communication from QKD. We first analyze the performance and security of existing point-to-point QKD technology. Then, we discuss several approaches to enabling QKD in large-scale multi-user networks. Finally, we list important challenges that need to be addressed in order to make QKD-based long-term secure communication on the Internet practical.