GB’s NESO leads project on network security in a quantum future

Britain’s newly established National Energy System Operator (NESO) has been awarded funding for the next phase of its ‘Network Security in a Quantum Future’ project.

The project aims to create a risk management tool to assess the quantum threat to energy networks, mapping it to a diverse range of energy system assets and enabling prioritisation of appropriate mitigations.

Cybersecurity is an essential requirement for critical infrastructure such as electricity and other energy networks.

However, the emergence of quantum computing is expected to be able to allow attackers to break current encryption that is currently highly secure as well as open significant new attack vectors.

Have you read?
Tech Talk | The rise of supercomputers and quantum computing
Introducing: The computing continuum at the intersection of industry and research

Thus to ensure resilience this quantum threat needs to be considered in current cybersecurity strategies.

But the complexity of quantum computing technology means that deciding what needs to be done, and when, can be challenging. The energy sector’s response to cyber threats must be appropriate and proportionate.

The ‘network security in a quantum future’ risk management tool aims to support the specialist knowledge required to understand quantum impacts.

The NESO is leading the project, with other partners including Cambridge Consultants and the University of Edinburgh.

In their comments, the assessors considered the project “innovative, novel, and risky, being a ‘first of its kind’ that aims to transform quantum computing research into actionable threat intelligence and risk mitigation frameworks.”

The project completed the ‘discovery’ phase in May 2024 and now goes into the ‘alpha’ phase.

The project has received £500,000 ($650,000) for this alpha phase from Ofgem’s Strategic Innovation Fund and runs to the end 30 May 2025.

The fund specifically provides this phased approach to innovation, with the ‘discovery’ phase focused on feasibility and the ‘alpha’ phase on experimental development.

If successful, the ‘beta’ phase of deployment and demonstration should follow.