Quantum Risk for Emergency Services: What Chief Officers Need to Know About TETRA, Critical Communications, and Infrastructure Vulnerability
Emergency services communications infrastructure is a specific quantum risk category. TETRA networks, now used by police, fire, and ambulance services across Europe, use cryptographic protocols that are quantum-vulnerable. The TETRA:HACK disclosure in 2023 demonstrated the gap between deployed communications security and current threat capability, without quantum even being in the picture. This briefing is for chief officers who carry operational and governance responsibility for the communications infrastructure their services depend on.
Event Details
- Who else is in the room
- Senior level executive peers, industry leaders, experts in risk, technology and business. Specifically: chief constables, chief fire officers, ambulance service chief executives, and senior officials at national emergency services communications bodies.
- Access
- Members only. Bundled with Expert Membership. Included with Expert Member tier
- Sponsor
- Organised by QSECDEF
- Facilitator
-
Anna Beata Kalisz Hedegaard Quantum Security Defence - Rules of engagement
- Chatham House Rule Chatham House Rule. Discussion is on the record; attribution is not. Participants may share what was said but not who said it.
- Format
- Structured Q&A Flexible between roundtable, structured Q&A or in-person hosted dinner
- Who Should Join
- This briefing is for chief constables, chief fire officers, ambulance service chief executives, and equivalent senior leaders who hold strategic and governance responsibility for communications infrastructure. It is relevant to senior officials at national emergency services communications bodies and Home Office equivalents. It is not for operational communications managers or technical procurement staff without strategic authority. Participants are expected to carry board-level accountability for their service's communications security.
About This Conversation
Why this matters now
The TETRA:HACK research (Midnight Blue Labs, August 2023) disclosed fundamental vulnerabilities in TEA1 encryption used in TETRA networks, including what researchers described as an intentional backdoor. This occurred before quantum-capable cryptanalysis, raising the question of what a quantum-enabled adversary could do with the same infrastructure. ETSI has introduced quantum-resistant TETRA Air Interface algorithms (TEA5, TEA6, TEA7), but migration to those algorithms is driven by national operator procurement cycles rather than a published mandatory deadline. NIS2's designation of public safety communications as an essential service increases regulatory exposure for services that cannot demonstrate cryptographic resilience. For services operating mission-critical push-to-talk over LTE and next-generation networks, PQC migration is a procurement and standards question arriving in the current investment cycle.
Outcomes
What you will leave with
- A clear picture of where TETRA and LTE critical communications infrastructure stands against current quantum threat assessments, and what the TETRA:HACK findings mean for quantum risk modelling
- Peer experience from chief officers who have begun engaging their communications infrastructure providers on PQC migration: what questions to ask and what answers to be sceptical of
- Clarity on the national and European regulatory trajectory: which NIS2 and national security obligations apply to emergency services communications infrastructure, and on what enforcement timeline
- A shared framework for the governance conversation with elected officials and police and crime commissioners who hold budget authority: how to make the communications security case in terms they will act on
- Practical framing for multi-agency coordination: where TETRA and LTE interoperability depends on synchronised PQC migration timelines across police, fire, and ambulance networks
Your Facilitator
Anna Beata Kalisz Hedegaard
Founder, QSECDEF
Anna Beata Kalisz Hedegaard has over 15 years of international experience in deep-tech, telecommunications, and defence communications networks. Her expertise spans intellectual property, advanced communications systems, and quantum secure communications. She has lived and worked across Poland, Denmark, the United States, Malaysia, the Netherlands, and Germany. Anna holds dual Master of Science degrees in Theoretical Cosmology from the University of Southern Denmark and Electrical Engineering from Wright State University, USA. She is the founder and board member of Quantum Security Defence.
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