Prof. Bart Preneel
Affiliation: COSIC, KU Leuven
Talk title: Post-Quantum Cryptography: A Migration and Policy Perspective
Abstract: Over the past two decades, the cryptographic community has made remarkable progress in developing public-key algorithms designed to withstand attacks from future quantum computers. The sustained standardization effort led by NIST has produced a new generation of post-quantum cryptographic schemes, and work is now underway to update application-specific standards across a wide range of domains. Several major industry actors have already begun migrating secure-channel and messaging protocols to these new primitives. Yet despite this technical momentum, transitioning an ecosystem of more than 70 billion devices, applications, and software libraries to post-quantum cryptography remains an immense challenge. Governments are introducing migration deadlines around 2030–2031, compressing timelines and increasing pressure on vendors and infrastructure operators. Some architectures will require redesign, and hardware replacement is significantly more complex and costly than software updates. In addition, practical post-quantum alternatives are still lacking for certain cryptographic primitives, and diverging national policies risk fragmenting global markets. This talk will provide an overview of the technical, operational, and policy challenges associated with the transition to post-quantum cryptography.
Biography: Prof. Bart Preneel is a full professor heading the COSIC research group at the KU Leuven. His expertise lies in applied cryptography, cybersecurity, and privacy. Prof. Preneel has delivered numerous invited talks across 50 countries and received several awards including the RSA Award for Excellence in Mathematics (2014). He served as president of IACR (International Association for Cryptologic Research) and is a fellow of the IACR and a member of the Royal Academy of Art and Sciences Belgium and the Academia Europea. He frequently consults for industry and government about cybersecurity and privacy technologies and he has testified multiple times for the Flemish, Belgian and European Parliaments. Prof. Preneel founded the mobile authentication startup nextAuth and holds roles in Approach Belgium, Tioga Capital Partners, and Nym Technologies. He is actively engaged in cybersecurity policy debates.