EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Quantum computing will present “a very real threat” in the next ten years and operators will have to rethink how they handle their data privacy and security, KPN chief information security officer (CISO) Jaya Baloo (pictured) told Mobile World Live.

“When there is a viable quantum computer it will change the way we handle the current mechanism to protect our data secrecy which is cryptography,” she explained, adding operators will have to rethink every type of cryptography they use and design new algorithms capable of resisting a quantum computing attack.

When it comes to operators offering personalised services, she said it is not possible to be 100 per cent “privacy preserving” while offering customised services.

However, operators should “willingly and knowingly and very transparently” inform customers about what they are doing with user data and how they maintain or securely delete that information.

“That’s more important than the technology behind it – having that dialogue is the most fundamental thing we can do.”

She also shed light on the security implications of IoT and how KPN views the EU General Data Protection Regulation as “much more in line with our current way of working” rather than a burden.

Click here to watch the full interview.