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SK Telecom implements post-quantum cryptography on a VPN

Published: 13 Sep. 2022, 14:02 Updated: 13 Sep. 2022, 14:03

SK Telecom researchers discuss the implementation of post-quantum cryptography in a global virtual private network. [SK TELECOM]

SK Telecom and SK Broadband said on Tuesday that they implemented post-quantum cryptography — which is considered secure against a quantum computer's attack — in a global virtual private network (VPN), enhancing telecommunications security.

This marks the first time in Korea for such technology to be commercially operated on an overseas network, the companies said.

Post-quantum cryptography became the latest addition to SK Telecom’s quantum cryptography technologies, which include quantum key distribution (QKD) — a quantum-based method to generate a random secret key for encryption and decryption of transferred data — and quantum random number generators (QRNG), which produce random numbers for data processing using quantum mechanics.

SK Broadband, the internet provider 74 percent owned by SK Telecom, completed installing the post-quantum cryptography-enabled VPN in August through a software update and ran network tests in the United States, Japan and Singapore, the company said.

SK Telecom "came to hold technological capabilities to lead the whole quantum security sector with the commercial operation of post-quantum cryptography, following the QKD and QRNG technologies,” Park Jong-kwan, head of the infrastructure technology division at SK Telecom, said.

BY SHIN HA-NEE [[email protected]]