Worldline leads the future of payments with Quantum-Resistant Cryptography

Worldline [Euronext: WLN], the European market leader in payment and transaction services, is taking the lead in shaping the future of payments.

Quantum Computing and its impact on payments

Worldline believes that Quantum Computing is rapidly becoming one of the most in-demand technologies and one which is likely to have a major impact on the payment industry. Quantum computers take computing power to a new level and it will be incredibly more powerful (by factor of hundreds, thousands or more) than even the most sophisticated computers in the world. Hence, Quantum Computing is also set to change the face of IT security and has the potential to break most security systems that currently exist, particularly many public-key cryptosystems including worldwide-used RSA, DSA, ECDSA and Diffie-Hellman key exchange.

The incredible speed at which Quantum Computing operates will revolutionise some specific processing beyond recognition. Whilst the technology is not immediately going to change the way the world uses computers as part of their daily life, Quantum Computing capabilities will have a direct effect on electronic payment security as the enhanced processing speed means it is capable of breaking encryptions that up until now built the digital pillars of payments and transactions. Customers, retailers, governments and banks will be exposed to a much greater risk of payment breaches as this technology becomes available.

Quantum-Resistant Cryptography Initiative

Worldline contributes to designing the payment security systems of the future and working towards future-proofing what the security needs.

The Worldline Research & Development crypto team works together with academics, technology laboratories and industrials within the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) of the U.S. Department of Commerce to create more advanced cryptography that is designed to protect against the possibility of quantum computing breaching existing IT and payment security protocols.

As the only team representing the payments industry, Worldline is at the forefront of securing payments by playing a major role in creating standards of quantum-resistant security. With this initiative, Worldline is taking the lead in ‘futuring’ secure payments.

Nicolas Kozakiewicz, Chief Innovation Officer of Worldline, states: « Quantum computing is no longer science fiction, it is science fact and these computers are getting more powerful every day. As we design the payment security systems of the future, we need to be thinking about how powerful these computers will be and working towards future-proofing our security needs. We are very proud as Worldline is a part of the worldwide project established by NIST to address Quantum risk in payments and develop Quantum-Resistant Cryptographic tools to protect payments from Quantum attacks that we believe are not at all unlikely.