FOCAL · Functional cOmposition of post quantum Cryptosystems At Large

The FOCAL project will deliver a unified framework to achieve practical E2E functional composition of PQC in edge networked environments. Functional composition will be accommodated under a cross-layering paradigm mapping requirements of existing PQC cryptosystems and further improving them through appropriate methodologies and mechanisms via considering device, software, networking and communication properties. Consequently, FOCAL will act as a cornerstone on achieving the first practical and programmable composition of PQC across the full E2E path between a given datacenter orchestrating cloud services to an edge deployment. This will be achieved through (i) crypto-agility via hardware reconfigurability , (ii) exploitation of communication channel properties on the edge, (iii) network instrumentation and orchestration via advanced software-defined technologies, (iv) enhanced PQC key generation, encapsulation and storage underpinned by hardware acceleration schemes, (v) lightweight synthesis of distributed Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs) amongst edge devices, and (vi) awareness of application-level interoperability requirements inferred through Machine Learning (ML)-driven edge device learning. The envisaged technical directions will be dictated by non-technical activities encapsulated within the FOCAL framework assessing metrics associated to measuring the transition of such edge-oriented ecosystems into PQC and on improving existing standards and policies through lessons learned. Thus, contributing significantly towards the EU objectives and guidelines as outlined in the EU Commission Recommendation on Post-Quantum Cryptography.