LAS VEGAS – GSMA announced a Post-Quantum Telco Network Taskforce, collaborating with IBM and Vodafone to develop quantum-safe cryptography standards within the telecom industry. 

This follows the move from the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in July when they selected four quantum-safe cryptography algorithms to be standardized for cybersecurity within the quickly approaching quantum-computing epoch. 

“Telco, in my view, is the underpinning connectivity network for any organization,” IBM VP and Fellow Ray Harishankar told SDxCentral.

IBM GM Steve Canepa stated in the release the omnipresence of communications services and compute technologies means the adoption of post-quantum cryptography will affect “all enterprises and consumers.” 

With hackers taking a "harvest now, decrypt later" approach, the threat is very real today.

“You may say, okay, so what if it's still 10 to 20 years away? Why worry about it now? Because what bad actors can do today is download the information. Regardless of whether I'm able to decrypt it or not, I'll download it and keep it, and then maybe 15 to 20 years later, I'll crack it and see what goodies I have in my [bag],” Harishankar told SDxCentral in laughter. 

The GSMA's taskforce is set to support the telco industry in the creation of “a roadmap to secure networks, devices, and systems across the entire supply chain,” according to Canepa.

IBM – which aided the development of three of these four quantum-safe standards – will contribute their vast cryptography and premier quantum computing experience according to Harishankar. “We have a solid research division that’s focused on crypto … but we're not pretending that we know the telco business,” he noted.

Harishankar believes this is where Vodafone and GSMA’s experience within the telecom industry comes into play. “I would say they do fully realize the sense of urgency. However, one of the reasons it takes time is because of the fact that they are acting on behalf of all of the telcos.”

He hopes that as others join the initiative and provide additional experience, they “will be able to collectively come up with the best solution that meets the needs of all the telcos.”

Catch up on all of our coverage from MWC Las Vegas here.