Summary
"Our digital society critically relies on protection of data and communication against espionage and cyber crime. Underlying all protection mechanisms is cryptography, which we are using
daily to protect, for example, internet communication or e-banking. This protection is threatened by the dawn of universal quantum computers, which will break large parts of the
cryptography in use today. Transitioning current cryptographic algorithms to crypto that resist attacks by large quantum computers, so called ""post-quantum cryptography"", is possibly the
largest challenge applied cryptography is facing since becoming a domain of public research in the second half of the last century. Large standardization bodies, most prominently ETSI and
NIST, have started efforts to evaluate concrete proposals of post-quantum crypto for standardization and deployment. NIST's effort follows in the tradition of successful public ""crypto
competitions"" with strong involvement by the academic cryptographic community. It is expected to run through the next 5 years.
This project will tackle the engineering challenges of post-quantum cryptography following two main research directions. The first direction investigates implementation characteristics of
submissions to NIST for standardization. These include speed on various platforms, code size, and RAM usage. Furthermore we will study so-called side-channel attacks and propose suitable
countermeasures. Side-channel attacks use information such as timing or power consumption of cryptographic devices to obtain secret information. The second direction is about protocol
integration. We will examine how different real-world cryptographic protocols can accommodate the drastically different performance characteristics of post-quantum cryptography, explore
what algorithms suit best the requirements of common usage scenarios of these protocols, and investigate if changes to the high-level protocol layer are advisable to improve overall system
performance."
daily to protect, for example, internet communication or e-banking. This protection is threatened by the dawn of universal quantum computers, which will break large parts of the
cryptography in use today. Transitioning current cryptographic algorithms to crypto that resist attacks by large quantum computers, so called ""post-quantum cryptography"", is possibly the
largest challenge applied cryptography is facing since becoming a domain of public research in the second half of the last century. Large standardization bodies, most prominently ETSI and
NIST, have started efforts to evaluate concrete proposals of post-quantum crypto for standardization and deployment. NIST's effort follows in the tradition of successful public ""crypto
competitions"" with strong involvement by the academic cryptographic community. It is expected to run through the next 5 years.
This project will tackle the engineering challenges of post-quantum cryptography following two main research directions. The first direction investigates implementation characteristics of
submissions to NIST for standardization. These include speed on various platforms, code size, and RAM usage. Furthermore we will study so-called side-channel attacks and propose suitable
countermeasures. Side-channel attacks use information such as timing or power consumption of cryptographic devices to obtain secret information. The second direction is about protocol
integration. We will examine how different real-world cryptographic protocols can accommodate the drastically different performance characteristics of post-quantum cryptography, explore
what algorithms suit best the requirements of common usage scenarios of these protocols, and investigate if changes to the high-level protocol layer are advisable to improve overall system
performance."
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More information & hyperlinks
| Web resources: | https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/805031 |
| Start date: | 01-10-2018 |
| End date: | 31-12-2023 |
| Total budget - Public funding: | 1 500 000,00 Euro - 1 500 000,00 Euro |
Cordis data
Original description
"Our digital society critically relies on protection of data and communication against espionage and cyber crime. Underlying all protection mechanisms is cryptography, which we are usingdaily to protect, for example, internet communication or e-banking. This protection is threatened by the dawn of universal quantum computers, which will break large parts of the
cryptography in use today. Transitioning current cryptographic algorithms to crypto that resist attacks by large quantum computers, so called ""post-quantum cryptography"", is possibly the
largest challenge applied cryptography is facing since becoming a domain of public research in the second half of the last century. Large standardization bodies, most prominently ETSI and
NIST, have started efforts to evaluate concrete proposals of post-quantum crypto for standardization and deployment. NIST's effort follows in the tradition of successful public ""crypto
competitions"" with strong involvement by the academic cryptographic community. It is expected to run through the next 5 years.
This project will tackle the engineering challenges of post-quantum cryptography following two main research directions. The first direction investigates implementation characteristics of
submissions to NIST for standardization. These include speed on various platforms, code size, and RAM usage. Furthermore we will study so-called side-channel attacks and propose suitable
countermeasures. Side-channel attacks use information such as timing or power consumption of cryptographic devices to obtain secret information. The second direction is about protocol
integration. We will examine how different real-world cryptographic protocols can accommodate the drastically different performance characteristics of post-quantum cryptography, explore
what algorithms suit best the requirements of common usage scenarios of these protocols, and investigate if changes to the high-level protocol layer are advisable to improve overall system
performance."
Status
SIGNEDCall topic
ERC-2018-STGUpdate Date
27-04-2024
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