Insider Brief
- Telia Finland and QMill demonstrated a quantum-enhanced encryption method for mobile networks designed to protect communications against both classical and future quantum computing attacks.
- The encryption approach, enabled by local or cloud-based quantum computers, was tested on critical network infrastructure and presented to the Finnish Defence Forces as part of ongoing evaluations of quantum security technologies.
- The project builds on Telia’s earlier quantum key distribution testing through Finland’s NaQCI.fi initiative and is expected to expand into broader communications security applications through continued collaboration between the two companies.
PRESS RELEASE — Telia Finland and QMill have developed quantum-enhanced message encryption for mobile networks. QMill’s new encryption method is enabled by local or cloud quantum computers. Once completed, the method is designed to protect messages against attacks carried out using either classical or quantum resources.
”The security of our networks is becoming more crucial, especially for our mission-critical customers. In this first demonstration with QMill we focused on the most critical part of our network, but this method could be applied more widely and, in the long-term, it could potentially establish a new standard for encrypted communications,” says Jari Collin, Head of Customer Segment Defence, Telia Finland.
“It is important that we were able to include Telia as a telecom operator in this phase. We will continue developing our quantum-enhanced security method with the objective of making it available as a standalone product, while also using it to complement other encryption methods by adding an additional layer of security,” says Hannu Kauppinen, CEO of QMill, which is a pioneering quantum algorithm and software company based in Finland.
The method has also been demonstrated to the Finnish Defense Forces.
According to the C5 Division of the Defense Command Finland, “Encryption is a critical component of the Defense Forces’ information networks. It is important for us to monitor developments in both encryption and quantum technology, and to assess their impact on the systems used by the Defense Forces. Testing in collaboration with companies offers an interesting perspective on this.”
This demonstration complements Telia’s previous achievement of being the first commercial operator to successfully test quantum key distribution (QKD) in their network, done as part of Finland’s national quantum-secure network NaQCI.fi project. Quantum key distribution is based on transmitting quantum states. In the future, it could serve as one of the means of ensuring a high-level of security in dedicated infrastructure, as opposed to a standard mobile network, which was used in the latest demonstration.
In the future, Telia and QMill will expand the newly demonstrated point-to-point connection with quantum-enhanced security to a wide variety of use cases as part of their ongoing collaboration project.
