Physicists and engineers from RQC have launched the first working quantum link between two Sberbank branches, transferring real financial data using highly a secure connection, the research organization's press service has reported.
"Thanks to quantum communication technology, we have provided for a high frequency of key generation, thus dramatically increasing the level of data protection. Russian organizations will get the opportunity to use a system created in our own country to protect their information, which is important for the state," Yunusov said.
Sberbank executive board deputy chairman Stanislav Kuznetsov spoke highly of the prospects for quantum information protection, emphasizing that the Russian state bank is "convinced that our cooperation with RQC will allow us to jointly create effective and innovative tools in the field of cybersecurity."
Russian physicists and engineers began working on quantum communication networks about three years ago. The first such network was created at St. Petersburg's ITMO University in 2014, with scientists linking two university buildings via fiber optic cable. Two years later, in June 2016, the Russian Quantum Center announced that the success of an experimental quantum connection between two branches of Gazprombank. In September 2017, researchers from Moscow State University connected two points in Moscow's suburbs.
According to RQC, the Sberbank connection, which required an increased frequency of key generation, and taking account of fiber optic lines with high levels of interference, takes secure quantum communications to a new level, becoming the first fully-fledged industrial-grade connection of its kind. The technology takes secure quantum data transfer from prospective projects to ready-made solutions for business, government, and other organizations.
