Quantum-safe communications will protect financial transactions against threats posed by existing encryption methods

The financial industry relies on being able to securely encrypt financial transactions and customers’ personal data. But quantum computers may one day be able to crack current encryption, creating major risks to the integrity of the global financial system. Quantum safe approaches, including Quantum Key Distribution (QKD), will be needed to secure future communications.

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So why does QKD matter to the finance sector?

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Financial institutions need to protect transactions, client data and proprietary information. Private payments rely on processing card numbers, which must be encrypted to prevent identity theft. Most financial transactions, small and large, happen electronically, and rely on encryption to shield them from cyber-attacks. All such transactions will be compromised if current encryption can be cracked by quantum computers. The scale of the risk means that finance should start preparing soon. But even in the short-term, deploying quantum security will bring advantages, as it guarantees that today’s data is safe from future quantum computer attacks.

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