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arXiv · 2608.11502

In QKD, Key Metadata is Key

Alin-Bogdan Popa·Pantelimon George Popescu
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Abstract

Federated interconnected QKD networks are becoming the norm, and with several standards already in place, interoperability is now technically feasible. Many aspects related to cross-domain key distribution, however, are left unresolved: breach announcement and mitigation, integration with the space segment, extension to a future QKD-as-a-Service commercial model, custom requests referring to key freshness, jurisdictions, security levels, etc. We argue that, to move from syntactic to semantic interoperability, a common language must be developed to ensure transfer of meaning along with the keys. We posit this is possible via QKD key metadata, and we propose a 6-step process to develop it as a standard.

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Alin-Bogdan Popa, Pantelimon George Popescu. 2026-08-11. In QKD, Key Metadata is Key. https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.11502

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