Germany’s Quantum Secure National ID Card

Germany has begun preparing for a phased transition to a quantum-secure national identity card, aiming to safeguard the cryptographic integrity of its identity infrastructure against future quantum threats. The initiative is a collaboration between the Federal Ministry of the Interior and Community, Bundesdruckerei, G+D, Infineon Technologies AG, and the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) ¹.

Two stages

The project adopts a two-stage approach. In the first stage, initially realised in demonstrator ID cards, the cryptographic signature on the ID chip is augmented with a post-quantum digital signature in a hybrid scheme alongside existing classical algorithms. While this approach remains largely compatible with the existing chip architecture – using PQC-capable secure elements from suppliers such as Infineon rather than a wholesale redesign of the platform, this step addresses the pressing threat of adversaries storing encrypted data for future decryption using quantum computers. The use of post-quantum signature schemes ensures that the authenticity of the stored personal data can be maintained, even against yet-to-emerge quantum-enabled attacks ².