QEYnet Inc.

Published purpose

Satellites are critical infrastructure in our technologically advancing world. Daily, we use satellites to navigate, predict weather, and communicate. A successful cyberattack against space infrastructure could be devastating. To prevent such attack, satellites encrypt their communications using keys loaded before launch. If those keys are ever compromised after launch to space, there is no way to load new keys. QEYnet is developing a solution to this problem using a technology called quantum key distribution (QKD). In QKD, keys are sent to the satellite using photons. Due to the laws of quantum mechanics, any attempt at eavesdropping on a QKD system can be detected, making the keys highly secure. Though QKD does hold incredible promise, imperfections in the QKD hardware can result in unintended security vulnerabilities. This project will further advance QEYnet’s testing of novel countermeasures to these vulnerabilities, and advance QEYnet’s QKD technology toward commercial readiness.