Quantum-Safe Critical Infrastructure for Austria
The flagship project “Quantum-Safe Critical Infrastructure for Austria” (Q-Crit Austria) contributes to the establishment of an ecosystem that provides a space for applying, developing, evaluating, and researching institutions to collaboratively harness digitalization potential.
The vulnerability of cryptographic methods drastically endangers the current form of digital society. Any communication — whether stock and exchange rates, power plant control signals, or railway switch operations — can be falsified and manipulated. Such weaknesses are profound and cannot be fixed through simple updates to critical infrastructure.
As a result, they pose a massive economic and societal threat. The European Union’s cybersecurity strategy relies on Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) as a crucial countermeasure against quantum computer attacks on critical infrastructure. The security of QKD is based on physical principles that are fundamentally immune to attacks, even by quantum computers — now and in the future.
The flagship project “Quantum-Safe Critical Infrastructure for Austria” (Q-Crit Austria), in close cooperation between users and developers, makes significant contributions to the following project objectives.
- Increasing resilience for critical infrastructure (Energy providers – Verbund AG, Telecommunications – A1, Mobility – ÖBB Infrastructure, Banking sector – Erste Group).
- Identifying digitalization potential through innovative services like “QKD as a Service” in the telecommunications sector (A1).
- Exploring unresolved and business-critical areas of cybersecurity in critical infrastructures by developing tailored “threat scenarios” and corresponding “Quantum-Safe Transition Roadmaps” (QSTRs).
- Ensuring high security and bandwidth requirements in IT through QKD with high key rates in selected critical infrastructure trial routes.
- Knowledge transfer from Austrian research institutes to Austrian companies.
- Stimulating demand for “high-security” QKD communication systems in critical infrastructures by demonstrating QKD trial routes.
The added value of Q-Crit Austria lies primarily in the establishment of an ecosystem that provides a space for applying, developing, evaluating, and researching institutions to collaboratively harness digitalization potential. SBA Research’s main responsibility is to carry out WP3 Threat Models and Security Evaluation. Specifically, this includes threat modeling for the pilot operation of ÖBB Infra during the planning, pilot, and final dissemination phases.
Project Lead: Quantum Technology Laboratories GmbH