Quantum Key Distribution

Quantum Key Distribution, or QKD, is the best-known example of quantum cryptography today. By transferring data using photons of light instead of bits, companies can take advantage of photons’ no-change and no-cloning attributes. Quantum encryption takes advantage of fundamental laws of physics such as the observer effect, which states that it is impossible to identify the location of a particle without changing that particle. Post-quantum cryptography is all about preparing for the era of quantum computing by updating existing mathematical-based algorithms and standards.  While quantum cryptography describes using quantum phenomena at the core of a security strategy, post-quantum cryptography (sometimes referred to as quantum-proof, quantum-safe or quantum-resistant) refers to cryptographic algorithms (usually public-key algorithms) that are thought to be secure against an attack by a quantum computer.

A quantum computer would render all widely used public key cryptography insecure cryptographic algorithms whose security relies on the intractability of the integer factorization problem, or the general discrete logarithm problem could be broken using quantum computers.