MAS and Banque de France trial post-quantum cryptography to secure financial communications
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has come together with the Banque de France (BdF) to trial new safeguards designed to protect financial communications and data from the potential threats posed by quantum computing.
MAS and BdF trial PQC algorithms
The joint experiment leveraged post-quantum cryptography (PQC) algorithms alongside current algorithms to sign and encrypt emails.
Coupling Microsoft Outlook with PQC plugin algorithms, namely CRYSTALS-Dilithium and CRYSTALS-Kyber, the pair claim to have “successfully exchanged digitally-signed and encrypted emails”.
However, their findings urge that this sole application of standardising PQC cryptographic algorithms and libraries for digital signatures and encryption is “not enough”.
Their statement emphasises how the adoption and interoperability of PQC largely depend on the additional standardisation of application protocols and standards, such as “public key infrastructure, digital certificates, key exchanges and secure emails”.
In addition, they also see potential for the technology’s integration with payment networks, which would enable financial institutions to guarantee the security of sensitive data against “the looming threat of quantum computing”.
MAS continues to explore measures to mitigate this looming threat.
In August, the regulator teamed up with a number of banks and technology vendors, including DBS Bank, HSBC and SPTel, to test how quantum key distribution (QKD) solutions could be used to protect against the “major cybersecurity concern” of quantum computing.
Looking forward, MAS says it plans to progress its efforts with BdF, with the next stage of experimentation expected to extend PQC to “critical financial transactions, particularly cross-border transactions on payment networks”.
“The focus is now shifting towards cryptographic agility and ensuring systems can adapt by integrating with quantum-resistant algorithms,” comments Jacqueline Loh, deputy MD of corporate development at MAS.
“Financial institutions that prepare early for the quantum era will not only mitigate future risks but also position themselves to retain public trust in digital financial services.”
