For years, the Rivest, Shamir, & Adleman (RSA) security protocol has been the primary public key distribution (PKD) system for encryption in the financial services industry–used in areas like research and development, data management and online banking. However, recent advances in the field of mathematics have the potential to significantly weaken this security protocol. This potentially threatens a large percentage of encrypted communications around the world.
TowerGroup believes certain financial services institutions must quickly make the transition to quantum key distribution (QKD) systems, according to a new TowerGroup research report titled, “Quantum Encryption: Future-Proof Information Security,” by Josh Kessler. Use of QKD will help ensure that future mathematical and computational advances do not jeopardize information security. Although only a few vendors of QKD systems currently exist, NEC’s strong interest in advancing this protocol indicates significant growth potential for the emerging technology.