Major wireless carrier uses Quantum Dice’s QEaaS in its quantum-safe DQKD VPN demo
Cybersecurity
Telecommunications
OVERVIEW
A major wireless carrier used Quantum Dice’s DISCTM -protected Quantum Entropy-as-a-Service (QEaaS) to secure a Quantum-Safe Digital Quantum Key Distribution (DQKD) VPN demoed at Mobile World Congress Barcelona 2025. This is an implementation of how QEaaS delivers and distributes, on-demand, the high-quality, verifiable quantum entropy needed to make the cryptographic keys used in the DQKD VPN. For more information about the showcase at MWC Barcelona, check out the write-up.
THE CHALLENGE
The DQKD method involves using quantum mechanics to generate and distribute encryption sub-keys to both VPN clients and VPN gateways.
The major wireless carrier’s DQKD VPN was built on a server that complies with the ETSI (European Telecommunications Standards Institute) 014 standard, which is responsible for the generation of keys. High quality entropy is fundamental for encryption keys, and hence for the security and functionality of the ETSI 014 server. It ensures the unpredictability and robustness of cryptographic operations, which are essential for maintaining the integrity, confidentiality, and authenticity of the telecommunications network.
However, commonly used sources of entropy – such as hardware-based RNGs and software-based pseudo random number generators (PRNGs) – have inherent weaknesses that limit their effectiveness, especially in the face of evolving cybersecurity threats:
- Verification difficulty: Their randomness is difficult to verify, particularly over long operational periods, making it hard to detect degradation or manipulation.
- Entropy shortages: As encryption methods grows more complex, the need for high-quality entropy has increased – exposing the limits of traditional methods, particularly in quantum-safe and post-quantum cryptography. Traditional entropy sources struggle to supply sufficient entropy at scale to distributed architecture, introducing latency, security risk, or both.
- Hardware deployment challenges: Resource constrained IoT devices in networks need high quality entropy but may not have onboard capacity for RNG hardware. Mass deployment of new hardware will also be costly to network operators.
THE SOLUTION
To address the challenges above, Quantum Dice created Quantum Entropy-as-a-Service (QEaaS) as a hardware-free, remote access solution that can deliver in real-time, verifiable entropy needed to make cryptographic keys in the major wireless carrier’s Quantum-Safe DQKD VPN.
Powered by Quantum Dice’s patented DISC™ protocol, QEaaS offers three key benefits to the wireless carrier’s security team:
- Live Entropy Verification – DISCTM enables continuous, real-time verification of entropy quality for secure key generation. This gives security architects an enhanced layer of auditability.
- Environmental Resilience – QEaaS eliminates operational complexity and delivers robust and reliable randomness that is unaffected by local operating environments.
- Seamless Scaling via Remote Access – Removing the need for clients to host or manage hardware, Quantum Dice created a solution that allows for the efficient distribution of high-quality entropy to multiple endpoints on demand. QEaaS presents a low-cost way to send high quality entropy to devices throughout a network.
For the wireless carrier’s ETSI 014-compliant key server, Quantum Dice provided QEaaS through remote access to deliver high-quality entropy needed to securely generate and manage DQKD sub-keys.
