In a press release from late-July, SES announced their plan to develop satellite-terrestrial infrastructure and the roadmap for wider European integration that will define our next-generation of cybersecurity. Joining in this endeavour will be InCert, iTrust consulting, LuxConnect, LuxTrust and SnT.
The Department of Media, Telecommunications and Digital Policy within the Ministry of State is coordinating Luxembourg’s Quantum Communications Infrastructure project (LuxQCI). This initiative is also supported by the European Space Agency and the Luxembourg Space Agency under the LuxIMPULSE programme, with the aim to create secure communications that will shield against cyber threats. To be used initially within governmental authorities and business sectors that require ultra-secure data transmission, the technology will be able to guarantee the safety of digital transactions and confidential information using quantum key distribution (QKD).
Cryptography is used to secure most of our data we share, from the messages we send, to our passwords and banking information. However, many of the cryptographic techniques we currently use will be susceptible to being broken once large-scale quantum computers become more widely available. The project will need the expertise of a consortium of companies based in Luxembourg to develop. Together, their experience of the private sector, research and development community, and public agencies, will enable Luxembourg’s first Quantum Communication Infrastructure to support the EuroQCI strategy. On SnT’s side, Prof. Peter Ryan, head of the Applied Security and Information Assurance (APSIA) research group and the Quantum Lab, will be involved in the project, alongside Dr. Peter Roenne, Dr. Georgios Fotiadis and Dr. Marjan Skrobot.
The full press release can be found here.