Practical application of quantum cryptography in banking

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Practical application of quantum cryptography in
banking
Stuart Brocklehurst Senior Vice President Visa
International CEMEA 16th March 2005
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Quantum cryptography is not a panacea

• The greatest threats will remain human
• incompetence and poor implementation
• internal frauds cryptography cannot help where
  those who should have access to data misuse it.
• Distances and network capability are currently
  limited
• c120km
• no true switches and routers as yet, although
  these can be mimicked
• similar to the early days of the telephone.

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But it does have its place

• Certainty that a message cannot now or in the
  future be decoded or altered by an interceptor
  is immensely valuable in the context of a
  guaranteed payment.
• Removing concern over data transmission allows
  greater focus on other areas of risk.
• The cost of QC systems is low, and the disruption
  caused by their implementation slight, compared
  with other security measures our industry has
  adopted.
• Aside from reduced fraud losses, payback can be
  derived from cost savings on key management and
  cryptography upgrades a major activity at
  present.

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Conclusions

• Quantum cryptography has a limited but important
  role to play in enhancing payments security.
• Early implementations are likely to be in
  wholesale markets, due to distance constraints
  and the higher values they need to secure.
• As functionality increases, its applicability
  will extend to retail payments.

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