In April 2023, the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) Industry Specification Group on Quantum Key Distribution (ISG QKD) released Group Specification GS QKD 016, the first Protection Profile (PP) for the security evaluation of QKD modules. The specification enabled manufacturers to submit pairs of prepare-and-measure QKD modules for evaluation under the Common Criteria for Information Technology Security Evaluation.
GS QKD 016 specified high-level requirements for the physical implementation of prepare-and-measure QKD protocols through to the output of final secret keys. The Protection Profile was developed with support from the German Federal Office for Information Security (BSI). Dr. Gunther Welsch of BSI stated that “appropriate security requirements and evaluation criteria are crucial” for developing trustworthy QKD devices and called the Protection Profile “the first of its kind.”
Martin Ward, Chair of the ETSI ISG QKD, described the release as “an important step to help certify QKD modules under the widely recognized security certification scheme of the Common Criteria.” A revision (V2.1.1) was initiated to update the Protection Profile to conform with a new version of the Common Criteria evaluation scheme, and it was published in January 2024.