QuSecure, Accenture team up on satcom security test using PQC
QuSecure is continuing to rack up achievements in the satellite communications arena, announcing this week that it collaborated with Accenture on a successful multi-orbit data communications test secured with post-quantum cryptography (PQC).
This announcement comes just a couple of weeks after QuSecure announced it had achieved a quantum-secured satellite link with Starlink. Often complex, multi-point satellite links are especially susceptible to attacks, and thus increasingly are looking like a major opportunity where the quantum security sector to make a difference.
QuSecure and Accenture teamed to deliver a crypto-agile quantum-resilient channel from Earth to a low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite. From there, the transmission included a switch over from LEO to a geosynchronous orbit (GEO) satellite, and back down to earth, as a model for redundancy in the event of a breach, failure or threat to satellites in a single orbit, according to QuSecure.
Accenture facilitated the LEO data transmission, and the entire transmission was secured using both classical cybersecurity and quantum-resilient cybersecurity via QuSecure’s QuProtect platform, and with no installation of software required on the satellites.
“Outer space is getting more crowded and contested every day, and providing reliable space-based security is critical in today’s global economy,” said Tom Patterson, Quantum and Space Security lead at Accenture. “Blue sky thinking addressing real world issues is what Accenture’s clients require, and security is a critical component of delivering the best solutions around the world. Bringing advanced security capabilities like QuSecure’s quantum-resistant crypto agility systems to orbit drives Accenture forward to better secure businesses on earth and throughout the space ecosystem.”
Now QuSecure and Accenture can help organizations conduct live, more secure (from both a classical and quantum security perspective) communications and data transmissions through multiple orbits in space. The flexibility, speed and abundance of LEO satellite communications (350-2,000 km altitude) can be protected by QuSecure’s Quantum Secure Layer (QSL) within traditional public key infrastructure, the company said.
QuSecure’s same protective encryption can transmit up to GEO satellites whose 37,000 km orbit can carry more traffic with greater coverage. This enables servers, edge, IoT, battlefield, point-of-sale, and other devices outside conventional data networks to adopt quantum-safe communications using satellite communications.
Dan O’Shea has covered telecommunications and related topics including semiconductors, sensors, retail systems, digital payments and quantum computing/technology for over 25 years.
