Secure Computation Offloading with ETSI MEC+QKD

Claudio Cicconetti, Marco Conti, Andrea Passarella

Abstract: Many modern applications rely on the ability to offload computation-intensive tasks to edge or cloud infrastructures. While this is clearly beneficial from the point of view of the client, because of the decreased load and system requirements, such an approach entails frequent exchanges with the edge/cloud application, which may include sensitive data. The interconnection of the client and remote infrastructures through a Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) network makes it possible to exchange quantum-secure keys between the peer applications. In this paper we study how to achieve this ambitious goal with applications using the Function-as-a-Service (FaaS) programming model in the context of ETSI MEC and QKD standards, as demonstrated in the national project QUANCOM, funded by the Italian Ministry of University and Research.