Quantum Dice: A connected future protected via verifiably trusted and secure randomness

Quantum Dice works to protect a connected future by harnessing the fundamental quantum properties of light to enable secure encryption. Leveraging our patented source-device independent self-certification (DISC) protocol, we’re developing the world’s first compact, high-speed, and continuously self-certifying quantum random number generator (QRNG). This brings an added layer of auditability to cybersecurity engineers, no matter if they are using classical or post-quantum protocols.

Quantum Dice’s mission is to provide trusted and secure randomness. Our DISC-protected QRNG is suitable for a wide range of applications—from protecting terrestrial networks to providing quantum-secure entropy for satellite and IoT systems.

Why is randomness important for cybersecurity?

Random numbers underpin the security of data and communications for modern encryption. Since the security of a system relies on preventing adversaries from obtaining encryption keys, it is crucial not only to keep them secret but also to avoid choosing them in a predictable way. This is why it’s essential to use high-quality randomness for key generation and to have a way to certify the source of randomness in real time. By doing so, we strengthen entire cryptographic systems against potential weaknesses and safeguard them from malicious attacks.

Generating randomness is a critical task for communications and computing, and certifying it in real time is even more difficult. In fact, intelligence agents used to carry booklets filled with meticulously generated random numbers to use to transmit secure messages before discarding them.

Current methods for generating these numbers, such as hardware-based random number generators (TRNGs) and software-based pseudo-random number generators (PRNGs), suffer from inherent weaknesses: they are vulnerable to hardware failure or attacks. It’s exceedingly difficult to verify or quantify the randomness produced by these existing methods, particularly during long operational periods. This can result in weaknesses that adversaries might exploit. And as encryption methods become more complex, the demand for high-quality entropy, or true randomness, increases significantly.

Differentiation

Quantum Dice’s QRNGs possess a unique layer of security—a source-device-independent self-certification protocol (or DISC). This is a built-in continuous verification system at the core of all of Quantum Dice’s products. DISC evaluates the amount of quantum randomness being generated at any point in time.

Our DISC protocol is based on a mathematically rigorous proof of security, which has been published in the world-renowned, peer-reviewed journal Physical Review X. It was the result of years of research conducted at the University of Oxford’s Quantum Optics lab. The protocol is implemented using Quantum Dice’s photonic hardware architecture along with its proprietary post-processing software.

In a nutshell, DISC performs a continuous health-check on the photonic quantum system which generates the entropy.

Even if the QRNG hardware were to be compromised, its output wouldn’t be. This mitigates against the impact of environmental fluctuations or malicious hardware-based attacks—and prevents them from compromising the security of the output randomness.

Real-world solutions

Quantum Dice offers DISC QRNG products in a range of easy-to-integrate form factors that are already deployed within the U.K. and internationally, with major firms such as AT&T, Thales, BT, and HSBC using the technology.

Leading global technology and security provider Thales, for example, has integrated our QRNG into its Luna hardware security module (HSM). This integration brings security advantages to enterprise customers for real-time security verification and seamless transition to post-quantum security.

Alongside hardware products, Quantum Dice also offers a cloud-based solution, Quantum Entropy-as-a-Service (QEaaS). QEaaS, inspired by the standard entropy-as-a-service framework developed by NIST, is designed to be used by network managers to distribute randomness across remote servers to ensure even the most resource-limited devices and cloud instances get access to the secure, certified randomness necessary to implement their cryptographic functions.

While QRNGs are already being deployed commercially within enterprise security systems, such as data centers, banks, and telecommunications networks, the longer-term objective is to make the technology available for personal use and integrate it into everyday consumer devices. To achieve this, the DISC QRNG technology must be miniaturized—and it’s the exciting next step in its development, which is already underway.