Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE)

Designing and Delivering a Post-Quantum Cryptography Course

Thomas J. Borrelli, Monika Polak, Stanisław Radziszowski

Published Mar 7, 2024• 7 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The security of many commonly used cryptographic protocols, especially public-key cryptosystems, would be compromised if general-purpose, large-scale, fault-tolerant quantum computers become a reality. In this paper we present our experience developing and launching a course in Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC). PQC refers to cryptographic systems that are secure against both quantum and classical computers. Such systems may be achieved through classical (i.e. non-quantum) means.

DOI
10.1145/3626252.3630823

Related papers

Modular Approach to Teaching Post-Quantum Cryptography

Thomas J. Borrelli, Sumita Mishra, Monika Polak +1 more

With recent progress in the development of large-scale, general-purpose, fault-tolerant quantum computing (QC), significant effort is being made in the cybersecurity community to create viable long-term solutions mitigating the threat of quantum computers breaking classical public-key based security schemes. The current post-quantum cryptography (PQC) standardization process led by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has standardized cryptographic protocols designed to be resistant to QC. PQC education is still in its early stages, with limited curricular materials available for broad distribution in an appropriate academic format. Another challenge is developing curricula for students with different levels of computing and cryptographic preparedness. The modular approach to curriculum development has been proven to be an effective method for introducing new concepts. The authors of this work have several years of experience teaching cryptography and PQC courses at two academic institutions. We introduce two types of PQC instruction modules at varying levels of complexity: Awareness and Proficiency. The suggested contents, learning outcomes, and duration for each module are presented.

ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE)•Feb 13, 2026•0 citations

Post-Quantum Cryptography

Steven D. Galbraith⋆

Abstract Large-scale and error-tolerant quantum computers will break the currently used tools for enabling confidentiality and integrity on the internet and elsewhere. It has been recognized for the last 10 years that there is an urgent need to develop cryptosystems that can withstand an attacker in the future with a quantum computer. Post-quantum cryptography (PQC), also sometimes known as quantum-resistant cryptography or quantum safe cryptography, means cryptographic algorithms that can run on today’s computers and networks and yet be secure against attackers in the future who have large-scale and error-tolerant quantum computers. This chapter will argue that post-quantum cryptography is more practical and trusted for most real-world systems than quantum key distribution (QKD). The purpose of this chapter is to put cryptography into the broader context of cybersecurity, to briefly explain the threats and risks associated with quantum computing, and to give a nontechnical overview of the post-quantum cryptosystems that are available now.

Springer eBooks•Dec 1, 2025•0 citations

Towards a Quantum-Resistant Future: Experiences in Post-Quantum Cryptography Education

Thomas J. Borrelli, Sumita Mishra, Monika Polak +1 more

With recent progress in the development of cryptographically relevant Quantum Computing (QC), significant effort is being made in the cryptography community to create viable long-term solutions against the threat of QC breaking classical public-key security schemes. The current Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) standardization process led by the NIST has made some selections and is about to recommend new cryptographic protocols resistant to QC. This work reports our experiences teaching a first-in-kind module- based course in Quantum-Resistant Cryptography (QRC) at two universities.

ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE)•Feb 18, 2025•4 citations

Post-Quantum Cryptography: A Snapshot of Standardization Efforts

Kübra Seyhan, Sedat Akleylek

The production of quantum computers with fast processing power and practical use will adversely affect the foundations of secure communication, especially for public-key cryptosystems (PKCs). Potential problems and solution scenarios are created early to design quantum-resistant PKCs. In this paper, the emergence of the concept of post-quantum cryptography (PQC) and early precautionary actions are explained. In addition, cryptosystem families that are known/believed to be secure in the presence of quantum computers are discussed. Based on these classes, the selected encryption/key encapsulation (KEM) and signature schemes of the NIST PQC process are expressed. Finally, some open problems for the post-quantum era are summarized.

NATO science for peace and security series. D, Information and communication security•Nov 9, 2022•4 citations

Survey on Quantum-Safe Cryptography for PostQuantum Internet Security

MURALI KRISHNA DARA

The threats are existential to the traditional cryptosystems of public keys, including RSA, Diffie-Hellman, and elliptic curve cryptography (ECC), due to the rapid progress in quantum computing. Such algorithms as the Shor and Grover algorithms prove that as soon as large scale quantum computers are achieved, these classical cryptographic protocols will not provide any privacy and integrity to online communication. This has created an emergency to find post-quantum cryptography (PQC), or quantum-safe cryptography, which will resist attacks by both classical and quantum attackers. The paper is a review of the latest research and development in post-quantum cryptographic algorithms and their implementation in current security systems. We organize quantum-safe methods into significant organizations such as lattice-based, hash-based, multivariate polynomial-based and code-based encrypted communications. Each type has been evaluated critically based on computational efficiency, key sizes, speed of encryption/decryption and security proofs. The survey also examines the current standardization activities happening in the world and especially the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) PQC competition, which lists candidate algorithms that have advanced to standard adoption. Besides this, the paper addresses hybrid cryptographic designs that use both classical and post-quantum bases in ensuring a seamless migration in the transition phase. Internet security protocols like TLS, VPNs and blockchain consensus as applications of PQC are examined in detail. Lastly, we pinpoint open research issues, which include creating lightweight PQC to support resource-constrained IoT devices, balancing performance and strong security assurances, and interoperability between the new PQC algorithms and existing infrastructures. Through detailed survey we inform the future of researchers, practitioners, and policymakers on the preparation of the post-quantum era of secure digital communications.

International Journal of Engineering Research and Science & Technology•Feb 6, 2024•0 citations

Towards Solving Real-world Problems of Post-quantum Cryptography

Suparna Kundu

Public-key cryptography is indispensable in maintaining the security and integrity of digital data. The most widely used current public-key cryptography is based on the integer factorization problem and the elliptic-curve discrete logarithm problem, which are vulnerable against an adversary with large-scale quantum computers. Fortunately, post-quantum cryptography (PQC) can provide security against both classical and quantum adversaries. Due to rapid advancement in quantum computer development, the transition from classical public-key cryptography to PQC has become imperative. A watershed moment in this transition is the recent publication of a set of PQC schemes by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Although it is a significant step, the research and development in PQC is quite immature compared to several decades-old classical public-key cryptographic schemes. Therefore, several open problems, such as physical attack analysis and their countermeasures, application-specific modifications, lightweight implementations for resource-constrained devices, integration into different secure protocols, etc., need to be addressed before the widespread deployment of PQC in real-world applications. This dissertation aims to address some of these problems in order to bridge the gap between the theory and practice of PQC.

ACM SIGSAC Conference on Computer and Communications Security (CCS)•Nov 19, 2025•0 citations
The security of many commonly used cryptographic protocols, especially public-key cryptosystems, would be compromised if general-purpose, large-scale, fault-tolerant quantum computers become a reality. In this paper we present our experience developing and launching a course in Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC). PQC refers to cryptographic systems that are secure against both quantum and classical computers. Such systems may be achieved through classical (i.e. non-quantum) means.
With recent progress in the development of large-scale, general-purpose, fault-tolerant quantum computing (QC), significant effort is being made in the cybersecurity community to create viable long-term solutions mitigating the threat of quantum computers breaking classical public-key based security schemes. The current post-quantum cryptography (PQC) standardization process led by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has standardized cryptographic protocols designed to be resistant to QC. PQC education is still in its early stages, with limited curricular materials available for broad distribution in an appropriate academic format. Another challenge is developing curricula for students with different levels of computing and cryptographic preparedness. The modular approach to curriculum development has been proven to be an effective method for introducing new concepts. The authors of this work have several years of experience teaching cryptography and PQC courses at two academic institutions. We introduce two types of PQC instruction modules at varying levels of complexity: Awareness and Proficiency. The suggested contents, learning outcomes, and duration for each module are presented.
Abstract Large-scale and error-tolerant quantum computers will break the currently used tools for enabling confidentiality and integrity on the internet and elsewhere. It has been recognized for the last 10 years that there is an urgent need to develop cryptosystems that can withstand an attacker in the future with a quantum computer. Post-quantum cryptography (PQC), also sometimes known as quantum-resistant cryptography or quantum safe cryptography, means cryptographic algorithms that can run on today’s computers and networks and yet be secure against attackers in the future who have large-scale and error-tolerant quantum computers. This chapter will argue that post-quantum cryptography is more practical and trusted for most real-world systems than quantum key distribution (QKD). The purpose of this chapter is to put cryptography into the broader context of cybersecurity, to briefly explain the threats and risks associated with quantum computing, and to give a nontechnical overview of the post-quantum cryptosystems that are available now.
With recent progress in the development of cryptographically relevant Quantum Computing (QC), significant effort is being made in the cryptography community to create viable long-term solutions against the threat of QC breaking classical public-key security schemes. The current Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) standardization process led by the NIST has made some selections and is about to recommend new cryptographic protocols resistant to QC. This work reports our experiences teaching a first-in-kind module- based course in Quantum-Resistant Cryptography (QRC) at two universities.
The production of quantum computers with fast processing power and practical use will adversely affect the foundations of secure communication, especially for public-key cryptosystems (PKCs). Potential problems and solution scenarios are created early to design quantum-resistant PKCs. In this paper, the emergence of the concept of post-quantum cryptography (PQC) and early precautionary actions are explained. In addition, cryptosystem families that are known/believed to be secure in the presence of quantum computers are discussed. Based on these classes, the selected encryption/key encapsulation (KEM) and signature schemes of the NIST PQC process are expressed. Finally, some open problems for the post-quantum era are summarized.
The threats are existential to the traditional cryptosystems of public keys, including RSA, Diffie-Hellman, and elliptic curve cryptography (ECC), due to the rapid progress in quantum computing. Such algorithms as the Shor and Grover algorithms prove that as soon as large scale quantum computers are achieved, these classical cryptographic protocols will not provide any privacy and integrity to online communication. This has created an emergency to find post-quantum cryptography (PQC), or quantum-safe cryptography, which will resist attacks by both classical and quantum attackers. The paper is a review of the latest research and development in post-quantum cryptographic algorithms and their implementation in current security systems. We organize quantum-safe methods into significant organizations such as lattice-based, hash-based, multivariate polynomial-based and code-based encrypted communications. Each type has been evaluated critically based on computational efficiency, key sizes, speed of encryption/decryption and security proofs. The survey also examines the current standardization activities happening in the world and especially the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) PQC competition, which lists candidate algorithms that have advanced to standard adoption. Besides this, the paper addresses hybrid cryptographic designs that use both classical and post-quantum bases in ensuring a seamless migration in the transition phase. Internet security protocols like TLS, VPNs and blockchain consensus as applications of PQC are examined in detail. Lastly, we pinpoint open research issues, which include creating lightweight PQC to support resource-constrained IoT devices, balancing performance and strong security assurances, and interoperability between the new PQC algorithms and existing infrastructures. Through detailed survey we inform the future of researchers, practitioners, and policymakers on the preparation of the post-quantum era of secure digital communications.
Public-key cryptography is indispensable in maintaining the security and integrity of digital data. The most widely used current public-key cryptography is based on the integer factorization problem and the elliptic-curve discrete logarithm problem, which are vulnerable against an adversary with large-scale quantum computers. Fortunately, post-quantum cryptography (PQC) can provide security against both classical and quantum adversaries. Due to rapid advancement in quantum computer development, the transition from classical public-key cryptography to PQC has become imperative. A watershed moment in this transition is the recent publication of a set of PQC schemes by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Although it is a significant step, the research and development in PQC is quite immature compared to several decades-old classical public-key cryptographic schemes. Therefore, several open problems, such as physical attack analysis and their countermeasures, application-specific modifications, lightweight implementations for resource-constrained devices, integration into different secure protocols, etc., need to be addressed before the widespread deployment of PQC in real-world applications. This dissertation aims to address some of these problems in order to bridge the gap between the theory and practice of PQC.