At 11am on May 11, Maltese technology took a new leap as the Rector of the University of Malta (UM), Professor Alfred J Vella, used an ultra-secure communication system to speak to Mr Simon Montanaro, CTO of Melita Ltd. Designed in Malta by Merqury Cybersecurity Limited, this technology could improve the security and resilience of Maltese infrastructure.
With new technological advances happening on a regular basis, the European Union (EU) has been working on developing solutions that exploit the power of quantum technologies to protect data against any cryptographic threat. As such, Malta is also part of this development, with the Physical Security for Public Infrastructure in Malta (PRISM) project seeking to demonstrate the potential of quantum-secured communication throughout the Islands.
In fact, the landmark video call used quantum mechanics to create a communications link between UM and the Melita data centre in Madliena, ensuring the data transmitted via the internet was consistently and fully protected.
Speaking about the technology, the founder of Merqury Cybersecurity Limited, Professor André Xuereb, said that “the work that we are doing in Malta is essential to the development of advanced quantum communication technologies, since it is helping to bring them to a point where they can be integrated seamlessly into the networking infrastructure.”
PRISM is a consortium of Maltese entities led by RSM Malta and includes the UM, Merqury Cybersecurity Limited, Melita Limited, Umnai, the Malta Information Technology Agency, and the Critical Infrastructure Protection Directorate. For more information, visit prism-project.eu
This project is co-funded by the European Union’s Digital Europe Programme, project PRISM.