Quantum-Safe Internet (QSI)

University of Amsterdam is one of the participants in the EU Marie Skłodowska-Curie Doctoral Training network on the topic of Quantum-Safe internet (QSI).

QSI aims at training a world-class cohort of doctoral students capable of taking the next essential steps in the highly demanding area of cybersecurity. We aim to build strong lasting links between strategically selected industry and academic partners, in different disciplines, via the development of novel technologies for practical applications in quantum and post-quantum cryptography. In parallel, we will also combine, via a collaborative long-term interdisciplinary approach, expertise in the two communities to address key fundamental problems in secure communications, and the important applications therein. The planned training network will provide research and training opportunities to a new generation of doctoral students, who, in the long-run, shall address the Grand Challenge of providing “Quantum-Safe Internet”, i.e., a communication infrastructure that is secure against not only classical attacks but also those enabled by quantum technologies. Internet security, which heavily relies on computational complexity assumptions, is seriously threatened by advancements in quantum computing technologies. Indeed, we have recently witnessed a wave of key developments in this direction by a number of IT giants, e.g., Google, IBM, Microsoft, and Intel. This particularly threatens applications that require long-term security. The number of such applications is continuously growing as more and more of our private information is stored and communicated in a digital way, e.g., electronic health records, which are now required by European legislation to remain secure for a long time. This requires us to urgently develop and implement new solutions. In QSI we combine the merits of quantum and post- quantum cryptography as key elements of the future quantum-safe Internet. This is particularly enabled by bringing together, in our consortium, the R&D and research expertise from the two communities

This project runs from September 2021 to September 2026.