The Center for Data Innovation recently spoke with Mattia Montagna, CEO of Quantum Bridge, a Canadian-based company specializing in quantum-safe security solutions. Montagna explained how the company uses advanced quantum key distribution protocols to create secure communication channels within customer’s existing networks, allowing them to transmit sensitive operational and encrypted data.
Kertai: What sectors do you work with, and how do their needs differ?
Montagna: We work with government agencies, financial services, and critical infrastructure organizations, all of which require the highest levels of security. Government agencies need to protect classified information and long-term national secrets. Financial institutions must ensure uninterrupted transaction processing and precise record-keeping. Critical infrastructure operators, managing power grids and transportation networks, require resilient systems that continue operating under extreme conditions.
Despite their differences, these sectors share strict regulatory requirements and extremely low tolerance for operational risk. They need assurance that sensitive data, encrypted communications, and authentication workflows will remain secure not only today but against emerging quantum-era threats.
David Kertai: How does Quantum Bridge integrate its technology?
Mattia Montagna: We deliver our solution by installing a specialized software overlay that sits atop the customer’s existing systems, such as their virtual private networks (VPNs) and secure communications gateways. The key is that this overlay intercepts the communications flow and injects quantum-safe encryption across the network stack, without accessing customer data. It generates and securely distributes mathematically robust quantum keys between the two or more communicating endpoints.
This process ensures that all data traffic, especially information that must remain confidential for years, is secured against even the most powerful future quantum computers. Because it functions alongside existing hardware, we provide a non-disruptive upgrade path, allowing organizations to transition to future-proof security using the infrastructure they already own.
Kertai: Since your software overlay already provides quantum-safe encryption, why do you heavily emphasize crypto-agility and the ability to integrate external protocols like Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) and Quantum Key Distribution (QKD)?
Montagna: That is the difference between a point solution and a long-term framework. Crypto-agility ensures that customers are never locked into one single method. While our solution provides powerful quantum security, we know that the threat landscape is unpredictable. What is mathematically secure today (like PQC, which uses algorithms) could be broken tomorrow, and technologies that offer strong theoretical guarantees, such as QKD, require specialized hardware and are expensive to deploy at scale.
Our Symmetric-Key Distribution System is designed to act as the master management layer; it can take the secure keys generated by any quantum-safe protocol—PQC, QKD, or a new standard developed in the future—and securely deliver those keys across a massive, complex network. By integrating and managing these different key sources within one unified system, SDS gives organizations a resilient, defense-in-depth strategy. They gain maximum security by combining the strengths of multiple techniques, and they can instantly pivot to the next best cryptographic tool without shutting down operations.
Kertai: What makes Quantum Bridge different from other companies in this industry?
Montagna: First, we emphasize crypto-agility, which lets organizations combine and update quantum-safe tools as standards evolve, without replacing entire systems.
Second, we lead in symmetric-key establishment. Our solutions use proven methods to securely distribute keys across large networks, eliminate single points of trust, and solve a scaling challenge that has historically limited adoption of symmetric-key approaches. We also publish open security proofs, so organizations can independently verify how the technology protects their data.
Finally, we deploy our systems in real-world environments. We don’t just design these solutions; we install and validate them under operational conditions, such as complex networks in government and critical infrastructure. This combination of adaptability, mathematically rigorous security, and proven field performance sets us apart.
Kertai: What new opportunities do you expect to see as quantum-era security needs grow?
Montagna: Regulatory momentum and growing awareness of long-term risks are creating significant opportunities for quantum-safe security. Governments are beginning to mandate protections for sensitive data. At the same time, concerns over harvest now, decrypt later attacks—where encrypted data is stolen today to be decrypted once quantum methods are available—are driving earlier adoption. This is pushing organizations to act earlier and adopt security measures that will meet compliance requirements, protect critical information, and remain reliable for decades.
