ABN AMRO and Qutech join forces to develop quantum encryption

ABN AMRO and Qutech join forces to develop quantum encryption

Kwantum Technology Group Qutech and ABN AMRO are working together to anticipate the use of quantum technology for computers and prevent risks to the security of banks. Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) should play a leading role in this, reports PYMNTS.

With the increasing power of computers and the use of quantum technology on the horizon, it is not unlikely that today’s encryption technologies will increasingly be at risk, reported by the TNW earlier this year. ABN AMRO and Qutech therefore want to develop Quantum Key Distribution, a technology that guarantees secure digital communication by means of quantum-distributed keys, encryption keys that result from quantum distribution.

This complex way of creating encryption keys means that the cracking of encryption using quantum computers is not possible or becomes much more difficult because the encryption key changes itself at the moment an attack takes place. In short, this means that the encryption key itself detects the eavesdropping on a particular encryption key, after which a change in the key takes place immediately. In this way, quantum technology is more or less protected against itself.

Technology from the future, contemporary problem

Until a few years ago, quantum computers were still seen as future music, but according to Dimitri van Esch, project leader at ABN Amro, the development of this type of encryption technology is certainly necessary to be prepared for the future. The cooperation with Qutech, which also conducts research into quantum technology from a broader perspective, should therefore provide answers to the questions that quantum computing raises for the future.

On the one hand, ABN AMRO wants to understand how non-quantum technologies can be suitable to provide protection against quantum attacks, and on the other hand, how quantum technology itself can be a source of better protection against quantum attacks. That is why ABN AMRO works together with TU Delft and TNO under the name Qutech. The first secure quantum data connections should be presented by the end of next year.

This news article was automatically translated from Dutch to give Techzine.eu a head start. All news articles after September 1, 2019 are written in native English and NOT translated. All our background stories are written in native English as well. For more information read our launch article.