Quantum-secured data transmission in urban fibre-optic communication lines
This work addresses data security for financial institutions by demonstrating a practical integration of QKD into existing infrastructure, though it is incremental as it builds on established protocols.
The authors tackled the problem of securing data transmission by implementing quantum key distribution (QKD) in real-world urban fiber-optic lines, achieving continuous key renewal for a quantum-secured VPN tunnel between two bank offices in Moscow.
Quantum key distribution (QKD) provides theoretic information security in communications based on the laws of quantum physics. In this work, we report an implementation of quantum-secured data transmission in the infrastructure of Sberbank of Russia in standard communication lines in Moscow. The experiment is realized on the basis of already deployed urban fiber-optics communication channels with significant losses. We realize the decoy-state BB84 QKD protocol using the one-way scheme with polarization encoding for generating keys. Quantum-generated keys are then used for continuous key renewal in the hardware devices for establishing a quantum-secured VPN Tunnel between two offices of Sberbank. The hybrid approach used offers possibilities for long-term protection of the transmitted data; it is promising for integrating into the already existing information security infrastructure.