PQC is a massive challenge that calls on the entire security industry to work together on the development of standards and implementation technologies. To facilitate know-how sharing across partners and the academic community, Infineon participates in PQC-related research projects funded in part by the German government or the European Commission.

Aquorypt: Future-proof security for industrial control systems and smart cards

The project Aquorypt runs from September 2019 until August 2022, investigating the applicability and practical implementation of quantum-safe cryptographic methods for embedded systems. The project team evaluates procedures that have an adequate security level and implements them efficiently in hardware and software. The results could be used for protecting industrial control systems or smart-card-based security applications. While the security requirements of these embedded systems are comparable, they differ in terms of technical limitations. Industrial control systems need to be extremely responsive (i.e. respond to critical events within milliseconds) and have long operational lifetimes. Smart-card-based security applications such as debit and credit cards, on the other hand, have to manage with little memory space and low computing power.

PQC4MED: Long-term security of embedded systems in medical technology

The project PQC4MED runs from November 2019 until October 2022, focusing on embedded systems in medical products. It takes a systematic approach in that both the hardware and associated software must support the exchange of cryptographic procedures in order to counter threats such as those posed by quantum computers. The quantum-safe signature and encryption sample methods currently under discussion are being evaluated and implemented. The solution will be tested in a use case from the field of medical technology.

FutureTPM: Future proofing the connected world with a quantum-resistant Trusted Platform Module (TPM)

The project FutureTPM ran from January 2018 until December 2020 with the goal of enabling a smooth transition from current TPM environments, based on today’s widely used and standardized cryptographic techniques, to systems providing enhanced security through QR cryptographic functions. By designing an innovative portfolio of high-security QR algorithms for primitives such as key agreement, encryption, signature, cryptographic hashing, message authentication code (MAC), and direct anonymous attestation (DAA), FutureTPM closed gaps that currently threaten TPM’s long-term security performance.