Bittium and Insta are developing quantum safe technology

PQC project develops quantum secure encryption technology, integrating it as part of products and solutions. The goal of the project is to accelerate the increase of innovations based on digital trust and a growth of business. In this project, Bittium and Insta will combine their expertise in quantum secure key exchange and authentication, providing even stronger capability to protect customer information.

As a result of this project collaboration, a functionality has been implemented for Post Quantum Cryptography based key exchange and certificate-based authentication. The cryptographic products Bittium SafeMove and Insta SafeLink, used in the security critical information systems, now respond to security requirements of the future quantum period. In cooperation has been verified that the products are able to communicate with each other using the CRYSTALS family PQC algorithms Kyber (Key Encapsulation Mechanism, KEM) and Dilithium (Signature Mechanism) which are designed to withstand attacks by large quantum computers.

Originally, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) initiated a process to solicit, evaluate, and standardise one or more quantum-resistant public-key cryptographic algorithms, and will soon select PQC algorithms which will be further processed to international standards over the next year. National algorithm choice has not yet been made either. Bittium and Insta are part of the national selection process through the PQC project. When the national recommendation becomes clear, it is possible to switch the algorithms of the solutions implemented in the project to any other option involved in the process. Currently used Kyber ​​and Dilithium algorithms of the CRYSTALS family have been selected based on security, and performance and evaluation measurements.

“Research project cooperation helps to ensure the protection of information for our security-critical customers against the threat landscape of quantum computers in the future”, said Tatu Männistö, Senior Director of Technology at Insta.

“In terms of security of supply, anticipation and updating the security infrastructure is important, and we can already respond to the changing security threats with Finnish products”, said Anton Gyllenberg, Senior Product Manager, Bittium.

Aimed at the security and government markets, Bittium SafeMove Mobile VPN software enables the utilisation of all IP-based applications and networks by securing the connections between the mobile device and the services as soon as the device has been switched on. The software produces a secure network connection, which allows governmental agencies to access the same critical information systems remotely as in fixed networks, and classified material can be transferred encrypted also over untrusted networks. Bittium SafeMov is used in security rating III approved Bittium Tough Mobile 2 C smartphones and can be deployed on other Android and Windows devices. Bittium SafeMove has also been granted the Spanish national security classification.