Quantum Xchange Announces Cryptographer Whitfield Diffie Is Joining Advisory Board

(APNews) Quantum Xchange, provider of the first quantum key distribution (QKD) network in the U.S., announced that Dr. Whitfield “Whit” Diffie has joined the company’s advisory board. Quantum Xchange brings to market a Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) service called Phio, which secures the channel for critical communications, enabling organizations to send unbreakable encryption keys over any distance. Phio is the first quantum-secured network in the United States and leverages the properties of quantum mechanics to transmit and receive quantum cryptographic keys between entities.
Diffie, co-inventor of public key cryptography, was attracted by Quantum Xchange’s early market status, innovative product offering, respected leadership, and role within the burgeoning quantum space. His position as an advisor will provide significant validation for the company’s approach to solving the inherent challenges of modern-day encryption through unbreakable key exchange and quantum communications that are complementary to public key infrastructure (PKI). Diffie is best known for his work pioneering dual-key cryptography in the early 1970s. Before writing the 1976 paper, “New Directions in Cryptography,” with Martin Hellman, encryption technology was the sole domain of government entities. The Diffie-Hellman key exchange protocol democratized the use of cryptography and revolutionized the landscape of security in the private sector . In 2015, Diffie became a winner of the Turing Award, which is considered one of the most prestigious awards in computer science, for fundamental contributions to modern cryptography.