OpenQKD: ID Quantique and fragmentiX successfully apply QKD for a Medical Use Case
Medical data contains sensitive, personally identifiable information. In modern healthcare infrastructure, this data is frequently exchanged between practitioners, laboratories and clinics to help improve patient outcomes. Unfortunately, the nature of the data makes it a prime target for cyber criminals, so it must be secured both at rest and when traversing private and public networks.
Medical Data Protection Graz is one of the use cases of quantum technologies being explored as part of the EU OpenQKD project. In partnership with the Medical University Graz and the Landeskrankenhaus Graz II – West, the project features CLUSTER technology from fragmentiX and QKD from ID Quantique to demonstrate Information Theoretic Security (ITS) for sensitive medical data.
The use case enables clinicians from both hospitals to securely access and exchange data across the network. fragmentiX CLUSTER technology utilises Data Fragmentation and Secret Sharing to protect the data at rest and QKD is used to secure the data as it is transmitted to remote data center facilities managed by Citycom Graz, or to a simulated on-premises S3 storage facility within the Medical university Graz.
“For fragmentiX, as the developer of quantum safe storage solutions, the fusion of security measures like quantum key distribution and fragmentiX Quantum Safe Storage Appliances is a perfect fit. While QKD protects the transfer of crucial information, the fragmentiX products ‘CLUSTER’ and ‘box’ offer information theoretic security for data storage”
Werner Strasser, CEO, fragmentiX Storage Solutions GmbH
About the OpenQKD Project
The OpenQKD project was developed with the aim of reinforcing Europe’s global position as a leader in quantum communications. Its three primary objectives are to demonstrate the transparent integration of quantum-safe solutions across the European digital landscape; to create several open QKD testbeds to promote network functionality and use cases; and to develop an innovation ecosystems and training ground to grow the supply chain for quantum communications technologies and services.
ID Quantique (IDQ) plays a significant role in OpenQKD by supplying the majority of available QKD systems. IDQ supports the testbed and use case coordinators in all phases of the project: designing and planning the use cases, installing the QKD equipment and providing technical support during the test. IDQ is also actively involved in standardization activities, development of interoperable interfaces and next-generation prototypes, and in the management and communication of the project.
For more information:
Partnering for Success
As the lead partner on this use case, fragmentiX provided each of the two hospitals with a CLUSTER system. The facilities are connected to two Citycom data centers via optical links, both of which were equipped with 10GB Cisco switches and Dell S3 storage, all supplied by fragmentiX. ID Quantique provided 4 links installed in ring topology. The QKD and encryption hardware, provided by IDQ and ADVA was installed with the help of AIT experts at fragmentiX headquarters in Klosterneuburg.
“The fruitful collaboration of ID Quantique and fragmentiX Storage Solutions GmbH in the course of the EU-project OpenQKD, has shown that the hardware provided by ID Quantique together with fragmentiX Quantum Safe Storage Appliances meets the highest security and privacy standards, while maintaining very high performance, laying the foundation for future high security applications in many different scenarios”
Werner Strasser, CEO, fragmentiX Storage Solutions GmbH
“We are very proud of partnering with fragmentiX to enhance the security of medical data. Beside government and finance, medical is a key area of attacks. Our solutions combined with fragmentiX’s technology will provide long-term security and we are dedicated to accompanying companies who wish to prepare for the quantum decade. We look forward to further collaboration with fragmentiX”.
Grégoire Ribordy, CEO and co-founder of ID Quantique
Useful links:
- https://www.fragmentix.com/cluster
- https://www.idquantique.com/quantum-safe-security/overview/quantum-key-distribution/
Contact Info:
Catherine Simondi
VP Marketing & Communication
catherine.simondi@idquantique.com
+41 (0) 22 301 83 71
