Quantum-secured communications for Canada (QSC2)

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During the past decade, Canada has become deeply vulnerable to cyber attacks that undermine national security, economic prosperity, and the way of life of its citizens. Today, attacks mostly focus on stored information. Yet, current public key cryptosystems, created to protect information in transit, rely on unproven assumptions about computational complexity - they are susceptible to algorithmic advances and better classical computer technology, and will become insecure with the advent of the quantum computer. This will lead to a shift in attack strategy towards data in transmission. As Canada cannot rely on acquiring foreign encryption technology due to trade restrictions or possible "backdoor" information leakage, it is imperative to develop alternative cryptosystems "Made-in-Canada". Quantum key distribution (QKD) is such an alternative. In addition to providing communication security that cannot be broken (not even by a quantum computer), its development also constitutes a first step towards building quantum computer networks, which allow benefiting maximally from such computers' superior computing power. This includes finding 'a needle in a haystack' (e.g. a specific entry in an unsorted database), for machine learning (e.g. for analyzing big data), and for understanding chemical reaction dynamics (e.g. to create better pharmaceuticals and petroleum products). Building on the expertise of internationally leading academics from the Universities of Calgary, Waterloo and Ottawa, and in close collaboration with the National Research Council, the City of Calgary and the Communications Security Establishment - a Government of Canada Department - the proposed research will, in the short term, allow the assessment of QKD for securing the encryption of sensitive data. In the long term, it will lead to a coast-to-coast quantum network that, in addition to QKD, will allow connections to and between quantum computers.