PQ SOLUTIONS LIMITED

Post-Quantum VPN

Post-Quantum VPN is a cloud deployed VPN Software as a Service which is quantum-safe and compliant with NCSC guidelines.
It uses a hybridised approach to accept different NIST/IETF ciphers for IKE/IPsec and SSL/TLS protocols, with Post-Quantum as the author of the original proposal to IETF, which is now being standardised.

Features

  • Current cryptographic ciphers aligning to NCSC PRIME
  • High degree of assurance (NCSC CPA & FIPS-140-2)
  • Crypto-agility - Ability to integrate multiple post-quantum algorithms
  • Multiple deployment options - site-site, remote-access, hub-spoke, spoke-spoke
  • Multiple software clients (OS X, Linux, Windows, iOS and Android)
  • Different protocols IKE/IPsec and SSL/TLS offerings
  • (5Gb for servers and 1Gb for clients) software crypto
  • Ultrafast offerings (>100Gb) hardware crypto
  • Developed by world leading experts (IETF & NIST Authors)
  • Developed using NCSC best practices

Benefits

  • Assurance - Expert validation that network infrastructure is quantum-ready
  • Assurance - Integrate future NCSC/NIST algorithms with hybridised adaptor
  • Risk reduction - Assurance of long-term (future) security
  • Risk reduction - Protects data today (mitigates data-harvesting attacks)
  • Reduce downtime/business risk as optimisation tailored on customer enviroment
  • Mitigate business risk using best of breed ciphers
  • Reduce capital costs by leveraging Post-Quantum developed solution
  • Reduce operational costs by leveraging our optimised service
  • Flexible deployment to fit with customer specific requirements

Pricing

£10 to £40 a user a month

  • Education pricing available

Service documents

Request an accessible format
If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need versions of these documents in a more accessible format, email the supplier at jm@post-quantum.com. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.

Framework

G-Cloud 13

Service ID

9 0 8 6 4 0 5 8 2 7 9 0 6 3 6

Contact

PQ SOLUTIONS LIMITED James Matthews
Telephone: +44 (0)20 8106 6913
Email: jm@post-quantum.com

Service scope

Software add-on or extension
No
Cloud deployment model
  • Public cloud
  • Private cloud
  • Community cloud
  • Hybrid cloud
Service constraints
No
System requirements
None

User support

Email or online ticketing support
Email or online ticketing
Support response times
Free for 48 hour response
Extra cost if buyer needs a rapid pre-agreed SLA response
User can manage status and priority of support tickets
No
Phone support
No
Web chat support
No
Onsite support
Yes, at extra cost
Support levels
TBC
Support available to third parties
Yes

Onboarding and offboarding

Getting started
Corporate onboarding service is available as described in our service documentation.

Online documentation will be provided.

Where required, bespoke training is available at extra cost.
Service documentation
Yes
Documentation formats
  • HTML
  • PDF
End-of-contract data extraction
The data will be made available via a means agreed as part of our offboarding process.
End-of-contract process
Once an end-of-service date is agreed, the service will be suspended for a month. In the case of an emergency, the service can be reinstated during this period.

Using the service

Web browser interface
Yes
Supported browsers
  • Internet Explorer 11
  • Microsoft Edge
  • Firefox
  • Chrome
  • Safari
Application to install
Yes
Compatible operating systems
  • Android
  • IOS
  • Linux or Unix
  • MacOS
  • Windows
Designed for use on mobile devices
Yes
Differences between the mobile and desktop service
Only constraint is for the device to allow the user to accept a third party VPN service
Service interface
No
User support accessibility
WCAG 2.1 AA or EN 301 549
API
No
Customisation available
Yes
Description of customisation
For major government buyers, Post-Quantum is willing to discuss specific requirements if they relate to higher assurance, higher throughput and other security features.
The Company can also provide hybrid cloud and hardware installations with the entire deployment done via the cloud.
Post-Quantum will need to be involved in the software and hardware customisation whilst the buyer can appoint competent systems integrators to do the deployment.

Scaling

Independence of resources
We utilise the highly scalable cloud technology where capacity can be expanded or contracted based on demand.

We also use state of the art deployment techniques and our staff have deployed the largest government Public Services Network (PNS) to date in the UK to over 5,000 sites with millions of users.

Analytics

Service usage metrics
No

Resellers

Supplier type
Not a reseller

Staff security

Staff security clearance
Other security clearance
Government security clearance
Up to Developed Vetting (DV)

Asset protection

Knowledge of data storage and processing locations
Yes
Data storage and processing locations
United Kingdom
User control over data storage and processing locations
No
Datacentre security standards
Managed by a third party
Penetration testing frequency
At least every 6 months
Penetration testing approach
‘IT Health Check’ performed by a Tigerscheme qualified provider or a CREST-approved service provider
Protecting data at rest
  • Physical access control, complying with CSA CCM v3.0
  • Encryption of all physical media
Data sanitisation process
Yes
Data sanitisation type
  • Explicit overwriting of storage before reallocation
  • Deleted data can’t be directly accessed
Equipment disposal approach
Complying with a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v.30, CAS (Sanitisation) or ISO/IEC 27001

Data importing and exporting

Data export approach
No data export is required for end-users. However, for the VPN gateway, the export of certificates and other credentials will be available upon request.
Data export formats
Other
Other data export formats
Not applicable
Data import formats
Other
Other data import formats
Not applicable

Data-in-transit protection

Data protection between buyer and supplier networks
  • TLS (version 1.2 or above)
  • IPsec or TLS VPN gateway
Data protection within supplier network
  • TLS (version 1.2 or above)
  • IPsec or TLS VPN gateway

Availability and resilience

Guaranteed availability
We guarantee the level of availability of 99.999%. Note that this exclude any downtime from any of the cloud providers used by us or chosen by the enterprise. Any hardware related repair and maintenance will be subject to separate SLAs.
Approach to resilience
We host our service across multiple availability zones in order provide redundancy and load-balancing.
Outage reporting
The customer will get an email alert should there be an outage.

Identity and authentication

User authentication needed
Yes
User authentication
  • 2-factor authentication
  • Public key authentication (including by TLS client certificate)
  • Username or password
Access restrictions in management interfaces and support channels
Access to management interfaces are restricted using the combination of user's credentials and IP whitelisting.
Access restriction testing frequency
At least every 6 months
Management access authentication
  • 2-factor authentication
  • Public key authentication (including by TLS client certificate)
  • Username or password

Audit information for users

Access to user activity audit information
Users contact the support team to get audit information
How long user audit data is stored for
At least 12 months
Access to supplier activity audit information
Users contact the support team to get audit information
How long supplier audit data is stored for
At least 12 months
How long system logs are stored for
Less than 1 month

Standards and certifications

ISO/IEC 27001 certification
Yes
Who accredited the ISO/IEC 27001
BM TRADA (UKAS)
ISO/IEC 27001 accreditation date
16/09/2019
What the ISO/IEC 27001 doesn’t cover
All of PQ Solutions' operations are covered
ISO 28000:2007 certification
No
CSA STAR certification
No
PCI certification
No
Cyber essentials
No
Cyber essentials plus
No
Other security certifications
No

Security governance

Named board-level person responsible for service security
Yes
Security governance certified
Yes
Security governance standards
ISO/IEC 27001
Information security policies and processes
PQ Solutions in its entirety, including all products, is certified to ISO/IEC 27001(2013). Internal and external auditing are carried out on a regular basis with external audits normally taking place twice annually. A member of the Senior Leadership Team has specific responsibility for security and reporting is carried out through the SLT to the CEO and board.

Operational security

Configuration and change management standard
Conforms to a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v3.0 or SSAE-16 / ISAE 3402
Configuration and change management approach
We employ a system that logs all changes made to our source code and configuration. Any changes made will be subject to our rigorous QA testing before deployed in production environment.
Vulnerability management type
Conforms to a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v3.0 or SSAE-16 / ISAE 3402
Vulnerability management approach
We employ an SIEM tool that allows us to security monitoring and alerting in real-time.

Our software is subject to regular penetration testing to ensure that any new vulnerabilities are addressed.

Our software and configuration is developed and deployed following the best practice of DevSecOps principles.
Protective monitoring type
Conforms to a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v3.0 or SSAE-16 / ISAE 3402
Protective monitoring approach
We employ SIEM tool that will allows us to identify potential compromises and react to this according. The tool also allows us to proactively alert our customers.
Incident management type
Conforms to a recognised standard, for example, CSA CCM v3.0 or ISO/IEC 27035:2011 or SSAE-16 / ISAE 3402
Incident management approach
We follow the ITIL principles in our incident management process. Users can report an incident via email. Incident report is available upon request, at additional cost.

Secure development

Approach to secure software development best practice
Independent review of processes (for example CESG CPA Build Standard, ISO/IEC 27034, ISO/IEC 27001 or CSA CCM v3.0)

Public sector networks

Connection to public sector networks
No

Social Value

Fighting climate change

Fighting climate change

Post-Quantum is committed to running the company according to the latest in ESG principles. We have internal processes to limit energy use, to work with suppliers that uphold ESG standards and to minimise the impact of our operations on the environment. These include working with the very latest cloud infrastructure services, offering the most efficient computing resources on the market, to limiting the impact of our employees through education – for example, explaining how we can limit physical travel, or to make sustainable travel choices by opting for rail for short journeys, or flying with an airline that operates a modern fleet.
Covid-19 recovery

Covid-19 recovery

Post-Quantum strives to improve workplace conditions in support of the COVID-19 recovery effort, delivering an effective complete remote working policy.

Pricing

Price
£10 to £40 a user a month
Discount for educational organisations
Yes
Free trial available
No

Service documents

Request an accessible format
If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need versions of these documents in a more accessible format, email the supplier at jm@post-quantum.com. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.