Quantum-oriented Update to Browsers and Infrastructures for the PQ Transition

This project will cover various topics related to digital security, with a particular focus on joining forces in the fields of Quantum and Post Quantum (PQ) cryptographic technologies. This proposal has arisen due to the potential vulnerability of the current prevalent cryptographic security model, used for digital data privacy and security purposes, and which is likely to become faulty in the near future due to the threat posed by the development of quantum computing. Quantum computing capabilities and quantum algorithms have been shown to efficiently attack public-key cryptography, weaken symmetric-key cryptography, and reduce the computational cost of breaking several widely used cryptographic primitives that are currently used to protect sensitive information.

As part of QUBIP, the Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) technologies developed at CSIC will be integrated into one of the proposed solutions. This solution will be a collaboration between the PQ classic algorithmic approach and the generation of information-theoretically secure keys (ITS) provided by QKD in the network layer of communication protocols. This unique approach to hybridized key management aims to combine the strengths of both fields to create a Universal Quantum-Secure Key Distribution layer that can secure IPSec (collection of protocols that assist in protecting communications over IP networks) and therefore protect software network environments deployed by telco operators.

CSIC participates in this project through the Group of Cryptography and Information Security (GiCSI) Cibersecurity and Privacy Protection (GiCP) and The Institute of Microelectronics of Seville (IMSE-CSIC), which coordinates the whole CSIC participation. CSIC will work alongside national and international partners to carry out this project, such as Politecnico di Torino, Red Hat, Telefónica, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, and Tampere University.