Section: Partnerships and Cooperations

European Initiatives

FP7 & H2020 Projects

PQCRYPTO

• Title: Post-quantum cryptography for long-term security

• Programm: H2020

• Duration: March 2015 - March 2018

• Coordinator: TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITEIT EINDHOVEN

• Partners:

  • Academia Sinica (Taiwan)

  • Bundesdruckerei (Germany)

  • Danmarks Tekniske Universitet (Denmark)

  • Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Belgium)

  • Nxp Semiconductors Belgium Nv (Belgium)

  • Ruhr-Universitaet Bochum (Germany)

  • Stichting Katholieke Universiteit (Netherlands)

  • Technische Universiteit Eindhoven (Netherlands)

  • Technische Universitaet Darmstadt (Germany)

  • University of Haifa (Israel)

• Inria contact: Nicolas Sendrier

• Online banking, e-commerce, telemedicine, mobile communication, and cloud computing depend fundamentally on the security of the underlying cryptographic algorithms. Public-key algorithms are particularly crucial since they provide digital signatures and establish secure communication without requiring in-person meetings. Essentially all applications today are based on RSA or on the discrete-logarithm problem in finite fields or on elliptic curves. Cryptographers optimize parameter choices and implementation details for these systems and build protocols on top of these systems; cryptanalysts fine-tune attacks and establish exact security levels for these systems. Alternative systems are far less visible in research and unheard of in practice. It might seem that having three systems offers enough variation, but these systems are all broken as soon as large quantum computers are built. The EU and governments around the world are investing heavily in building quantum computers; society needs to be prepared for the consequences, including cryptanalytic attacks accelerated by these computers. Long-term confidential documents such as patient health-care records and state secrets have to guarantee security for many years, but information encrypted today using RSA or elliptic curves and stored until quantum computers are available will then be as easy to decipher as Enigma-encrypted messages are today. PQCRYPTO will allow users to switch to post-quantum cryptography: cryptographic systems that are not merely secure for today but that will also remain secure long-term against attacks by quantum computers. PQCRYPTO will design a portfolio of high-security post-quantum public-key systems, and will improve the speed of these systems, adapting to the different performance challenges of mobile devices, the cloud, and the Internet of Things. PQCRYPTO will provide efficient implementations of high-security post-quantum cryptography for a broad spectrum of real-world applications.

Collaborations in European Programs, except FP7 & H2020

• Program: COST

• Project acronym: ICT COST Action IC1306

• Project title: Cryptography for Secure Digital Interaction

• Duration: January 2014 - November 2017

• Coordinator: Claudio Orlandi, Aarhus University, Denmark

• Other partners: see http://www.cost.eu/domains_actions/ict/Actions/IC1306

• Abstract: The aim of this COST action is to stimulate interaction between the different national efforts in order to develop new cryptographic solutions and to evaluate the security of deployed algorithms with applications to the secure digital interactions between citizens, companies and governments.

• Anne Canteaut is co-leader of the working group on cryptographic primitives.