Use case

Finance

The financial sector relies on trust and data protection. In an environment where exchanges are massive and instantaneous, quantum communication technologies provide a new approach to securing transactions and critical infrastructures.

Guidelines

Financial institutions constantly handle large volumes of sensitive data: transactions, client information, interbank communications. Securing these flows is crucial, especially as threats evolve rapidly and increasingly target the sector’s critical infrastructures.

Quantum communications, particularly through quantum key distribution, enhance existing encryption mechanisms. They offer security based on physical principles, independent of an attacker’s computing power, which is an advantage for long-term protection.

Use cases include securing connections between data centres, protecting interbank transactions and strengthening market infrastructure. These technologies can also form part of broader strategies to build resilience against future risks, particularly those associated with quantum computing.

Testbeds enable financial institutions to explore these approaches in a pragmatic manner. They provide a framework for testing integration with existing systems, measuring performance and assessing operational impacts prior to wider-scale deployment.

Realisations

Software for transferring banking data between two remote banks.

Objective

To validate the feasibility of interfacing an application with Nokia’s infrastructure (Blueprint 7) and Crypto4A’s QxHSM, to ensure quantum-safe transactions.

Structure and relationships

Nominal scenario: When Crypto4A’s QxHSM is operational, it provides keys generated by a TRNG to Nokia’s SOC system, which then orchestrates key rotation at regular intervals that the banking transfer application can monitor and verify.

Alternative/exception scenarios: In the event of a QxHSM service interruption, Nokia’s SOC will revert to its default key generation. Communication continues and remains encrypted, but is no longer quantum-safe.

Purpose

This is a proof of concept (POC) for secure telecommunications between two banks connected via Nokia telecommunications equipment. On Kirq, the application circulates dummy data whilst using a format typical for this type of financial data. The next step would be to validate its use with real data.

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