Manfred Lochter

QKD is attracting more and more interest. In order to introduce QKD into networks, several aspects have to be considered. In the talk I will present BSI’s view on QKD, focussing mainly on security aspects. These security aspects include certification and approval requirements, evaluation criteria, the combination of QKD with “traditional” cryptography and the role of random number generation. I will argue that at the moment QKD is a technology that should only be used in hybrid modes, e.g. one should combine the Quantum Key-Agreement with a quantum-safe key-agreement in order to generate keys for symmetric encryption algorithms. It is well known that existing QKD devices are vulnerable to sidechannel atttacks. Therefore performance standards and evaluation criteria are needed, where evaluation should be performed according to internationally accepted criteria, e.g. the Common Criteria (CC). I will report on the status of a project that aims at developing a Protection Profile (PP) for QKD devices.