Published on March 27, 2024
–
Updated on March 27, 2024
Dates
on the March 13, 2024
Thanks to the Quantum@UniCA project and in collaboration with the i3S laboratory, a video-conferencing software prototype using two trusted nodes as key storage centers has been produced. The software exploits the secret keys shared between the two trusted nodes according to classical encryption standards, ensuring absolute robustness against an attack by a quantum computer.
Securing data exchanges is one of the major challenges of our time, as it is involved at every moment in many areas of private and public life. It is a strategic issue for major industrial groups, banks, armed forces and the state in general. In a context of sovereignty, photonics-based quantum cryptography, supported by the Stratégie Nationale Quantique since 2021, represents a strategic and ambitious choice by Université Côte d'Azur to secure the communications of the future.
The Quantum@UniCA project, supported by Université Côte d'Azur and its Initiative d'Excellence, led by the Institut de Physique de Nice and launched in 2019, has enabled the deployment of the first operational quantum communications link in France, and the only continuously functional one in Europe to date. This network, which connects four University sites - the Valrose (Université Côte d'Azur), SophiaTech (Inria), Plaine-du-Var (INPHYNI) campuses, and the Côte d'Azur observatory (Plateau de Calern) - uses photonic entanglement to establish ultra-secure cryptographic keys between partners separated by distances ranging from 35 to 100 km of optical fiber. This network is the subject of a strong partnership between Université Côte d'Azur (GeoAzur, i3S, Inria, INPHYNI laboratories), Orange, CNRS and Métropole Nice Côte d'Azur. The European Union is also supporting these developments through the EuroQCI program for the deployment of quantum communication infrastructures.
Each of the sites is considered a "trusted node", while a quantum entanglement generator, located in the Var plain, enables quantum correlations to be shared and identical secret keys to be constructed between these trusted nodes according to the principles of quantum mechanics.
In collaboration with Université Côte d'Azur's i3S laboratory, a video-conferencing software prototype using two of these trusted nodes as key storage centers has been produced. The software exploits the secret keys shared between the two trusted nodes according to classical encryption standards, ensuring absolute robustness against an attack by a quantum computer.
The Quantum@UniCA project, supported by Université Côte d'Azur and its Initiative d'Excellence, led by the Institut de Physique de Nice and launched in 2019, has enabled the deployment of the first operational quantum communications link in France, and the only continuously functional one in Europe to date. This network, which connects four University sites - the Valrose (Université Côte d'Azur), SophiaTech (Inria), Plaine-du-Var (INPHYNI) campuses, and the Côte d'Azur observatory (Plateau de Calern) - uses photonic entanglement to establish ultra-secure cryptographic keys between partners separated by distances ranging from 35 to 100 km of optical fiber. This network is the subject of a strong partnership between Université Côte d'Azur (GeoAzur, i3S, Inria, INPHYNI laboratories), Orange, CNRS and Métropole Nice Côte d'Azur. The European Union is also supporting these developments through the EuroQCI program for the deployment of quantum communication infrastructures.
Each of the sites is considered a "trusted node", while a quantum entanglement generator, located in the Var plain, enables quantum correlations to be shared and identical secret keys to be constructed between these trusted nodes according to the principles of quantum mechanics.
In collaboration with Université Côte d'Azur's i3S laboratory, a video-conferencing software prototype using two of these trusted nodes as key storage centers has been produced. The software exploits the secret keys shared between the two trusted nodes according to classical encryption standards, ensuring absolute robustness against an attack by a quantum computer.
