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

The exciting frontiers opened by the development of quantum computers (QC) come at the cost of breaking the foundations of current digital security. The research community is working to the definition of post-quantum cryptography (PQC) to counteract this threat. However, the transition to PQC is delicate and takes time because it impacts many functions, algorithms, and protocols in a-priori unknown cascade of dependencies. QUBIP is conceived to contribute to the EU transition to PQC with the goal of simplifying and making replicable the process by means of recommended practices and counteract post-quantum threats as soon as possible. QUBIP focuses on digital infrastructure addressing the 5 main building blocks that use public-key cryptography for security purposes: hardware, cryptographic libraries, operating system, communication protocols and applications. QUBIP address all 5 blocks coherently solving all dependency issues that may arise inside each block and among blocks with the final aim to validate at TRL6 three infrastructures making use of those blocks in IoT-based Digital Manufacturing, Internet Browsing, and Software Networks Environments for Telcos use cases. The return-of-experience from the three practical exercises is then maximized by developing a migration playbook, that will contain the lessons learned and an evaluation of all the technical, economic, and legal barriers encountered together with the solutions to overcome them to enable the definition of a replicable process, suitable to provide structured accompanying and practical guidance to industrial stakeholders. The technical activities are corroborated by three supporting activities (i) evaluation of the capabilities of QCs to assess their implication to primitives, algorithms and protocols adopted, and contribution to (ii) standardization efforts addressing transition to PQC processes and (iii) policy measures addressing technology changes coming from the advent of QC and PQC.