ACM PQQS 2026

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.

Dr. Reza Nejabati

Affiliation: Cisco

Talk title: Quantum-Enhanced Internet Infrastructure: Opportunities, Challenges, and Risks

Abstract: Quantum networking is often viewed through a relatively narrow lens—as a point-to-point medium for quantum key distribution. In this talk, I will challenge that conventional view and present a broader vision of a universal quantum network: an infrastructure capable of distributing quantum information and entanglement across heterogeneous devices, networks, and computing platforms.

I will explore why such networks are needed, what new capabilities they can enable, and what technical and architectural challenges must be addressed to make them practical. In particular, I will discuss how quantum networking can coexist with and enhance today’s Internet infrastructure, rather than requiring an entirely separate network, and examine the opportunities and risks that arise from integrating quantum capabilities into existing communication systems.

Finally, I will discuss how a universal quantum network could become a critical infrastructure layer for scalable and distributed quantum computing—connecting smaller quantum processors, enabling modular architectures, and potentially accelerating the path toward practically useful quantum computers.

The broader question is not simply how to build a future “quantum Internet,” but how the Internet itself may evolve into a quantum-enhanced infrastructure supporting both classical and quantum applications.

Biography: Reza Nejabati is currently leading quantum research activities at Cisco, spearheading development and execution of both short-term and long-term quantum research roadmaps. He leads a dynamic team of quantum and network scientists, encompassing both experimentalists and theorists, and collaborations with prominent academic groups and industries. Additionally, he is leading the development of Cisco’s Quantum Research Lab, an innovative facility dedicated to advancing quantum networking research. Prior to joining Cisco, Reza served as a Chair Professor of Networks and Head of the High-Performance Network Group in the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at the University of Bristol, UK. His research focus and expertise lies in the realms of quantum and classical network infrastructure for the future internet.

Prof. Mauritz Kop

Affiliation: Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI); U.S. Air Force Academy

Talk title: The Race to Quantum First: Building a Secure and Responsible Quantum Future

Abstract: The race to quantum first is a contest for power. Leadership in quantum technologies and their convergence with artificial intelligence could give states enduring leverage over the world’s digital operating system. I frame the prospect of an enduring shift in strategic power as a quantum event horizon. For the United States and its allies, the challenge is to arrive first while shaping an order grounded in American values of liberty, the rule of law, free enterprise, and strategic scientific openness, with partners contributing their own democratic traditions.

Drawing on foundational work at the Stanford Center for Responsible Quantum Technology, recent scholarship, and advisory work for the U.S. government, I propose a governance agenda that makes responsible innovation an instrument of strategic leadership, spanning intellectual property, research security, critical-material supply chains, and allied industrial capacity. Its guiding principles are safeguarding society, engaging those affected, and advancing beneficial innovation.

The agenda translates vision into decisions. Public procurement can accelerate post-quantum adoption and require systems that adapt as cryptographic standards change. I present the LSI test for selecting security measures that are least trade-restrictive, security-sufficient, and innovation-preserving. A hospital example shows how critical infrastructure operators can protect patient data through clear responsibilities, supplier assurance, and adaptive decisions as quantum threats evolve.

In quantum, scale is a coalition property. The United States, European Union, United Kingdom, Japan, South Korea, and Canada can combine research strengths and industrial capacity, with NATO supporting defense interoperability among allies and partners. Mutual recognition of equivalent security evaluations can expand trusted markets. Partnerships with middle powers and majority world countries can strengthen adoption and resilience while giving those countries a role in shaping the emerging order.

I also propose a European Quantum Act architecture that would strengthen the EU as a sovereign and capable allied partner by linking industrial ambition to accountable deployment. The talk explores the merits and limits of a lean, U.S.-led international body inspired by IAEA safeguards, asking whether it could credibly verify commitments on cryptographically relevant quantum capabilities.

The central claim is that responsible governance can help democracies gain and sustain technological advantage. The strategic prize is the capacity to shape the infrastructure others adopt, the standards they trust, and the conditions under which quantum power is exercised for decades to come. The goal is a durable democratic eigenstate of the quantum order, sustained by allied strength and institutions that turn shared values into lasting influence.

Biography: Mauritz Kop is the Founder of the Stanford Center for Responsible Quantum Technology (Stanford RQT) and Stanford Quantum Incubator, and a Senior Fellow and Principal Investigator at the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI). A technology lawyer, legal scholar, and AI patent holder, he founded Quentir and AIRecht and co-founded Daiki. He is a Guest Professor at the U.S. Air Force Academy, a quantum ecosystem expert on the von Neumann Commission, and a Subject Matter Expert at NATO StratCom. He advises the U.S. Government, including the Pentagon and Department of State, on quantum strategy and policy.

His interdisciplinary research connects AI regulation, quantum governance, intellectual property, and healthcare with responsible innovation, cryptographic migration, supply chains, and national security. His publications include work in Nature, Science, and leading outlets at Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Oxford, Cambridge, Max Planck, Foreign Policy, Fortune, and the Institute of Physics. He advises governments and international organizations including NATO, UNESCO, the OECD, CERN, and the World Economic Forum, and has contributed expertise to European legislation and U.S. congressional deliberations. He served as Stanford RQT’s Executive Director from 2023 to 2025. Stanford RQT was inaugurated by Mark Rutte, and its work informed the G7 Kananaskis quantum policy agenda. In 2025, Stanford University Libraries established a permanent repository preserving his group’s scholarship on responsible quantum technology and innovation.

Dr. Vipul Goyal

Affiliation: NTT Research; Carnegie Mellon University

Talk title: Quantum Uncloneability and its Cryptographic Applications

Abstract: Quantum information cannot, in general, be copied. This basic physical constraint gives rise to cryptographic possibilities that have no classical analogue. In this talk, I will discuss how quantum uncloneability can be harnessed as a cryptographic resource.

I will start with the older well-known primitives such as quantum money, quantum software protection, and unclonable encryption. I will then focus on the more recent notion of quantum leakage resilience, where cryptographic security remains even in the presence of unbounded classical side information on quantum secrets.

We will then go further to discuss proofs of non-intrusion (PONIs), which provides a way for a server to prove to the client that their data being stored has not been leaked upon. A central challenge in data security is not just preventing theft, but detecting whether it has occurred. There are various regulations which require prompt disclosure of any large-scale theft of data. However, currently, there is no cryptographic enforcement mechanism for that purpose. Proofs of non-intrusion precisely aim to fill that gap.

Biography: Vipul Goyal is a Senior Scientist at NTT Research in California, a position he has held since 2020. He is also an Adjunct Associate Professor at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU). Previously, he was an Associate Professor of Computer Science at CMU from 2017 to 2022 (on leave from 2020 to 2022). From 2009 to 2016, he was a researcher in the Cryptography and Complexity group at Microsoft Research India. He received his Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of California, Los Angeles in 2009, and his B.Tech. in Computer Science from the Indian Institute of Technology (BHU), Varanasi in 2004.

Dr. Goyal is a winner of several honors including a 2019 JP Morgan Faculty award, 2016 ACM CCS test of time award, a Microsoft Research graduate fellowship, and a Google outstanding graduate student award. He was named to the Forbes magazine 30 under 30 list of people changing science and healthcare in 2013. His research has received media coverage at popular science publications such as MIT Technology Review, Slashdot, and Nature News. He has given invited lectures at places such as MIT, Princeton, and IIT Delhi. He has served on program committees of conferences such as Crypto, Eurocrypt, STOC and IEEE S&P. He has published over 100 technical papers at top conferences in cryptography such as at Crypto, Eurocrypt, STOC, FOCS, and ACM CCS.

He is broadly interested in all areas of cryptography and quantum cryptography (and in theoretical computer science in general).

Prof. Yevgeniy Dodis

Affiliation: New York University

Talk title: Secure Messaging in the Post-Quantum World

Abstract: I will survey state-of-the-art results in secure messaging, focusing both on advances in theory as well as on the transition of leading messaging providers (mainly Signal) to the post-quantum world. Topics will include the Triple Ratchet extension of Signal, the design of sublinear group messaging schemes, and (briefly) other topics, such as private groups and other metadata protection.

Biography: Yevgeniy Dodis is a Fellow of the IACR (International Association for Cryptologic Research), and a Professor of Computer Science at New York University. Dr. Dodis received his summa cum laude Bachelors degree in Mathematics and Computer Science from New York University in 1996, and his PhD degree in Computer Science from MIT in 2000. Dr. Dodis was a post-doc at IBM T.J.Watson Research center in 2000, and joined New York University as an Assistant Professor in 2001. He was promoted to Associate Professor in 2007 and Full Professor in 2012.

Dr. Dodis’ research is primarily in cryptography and network security. He worked in a variety of areas, including secure messaging and end-to-end security, random number generation, leakage-resilient cryptography, cryptography under weak randomness, cryptography with biometrics and other noisy data, hash function and block cipher design, protocol composition and information-theoretic cryptography. Some of his work on Random Number Generation, Hash Functions and Secure Messaging has had real-world impact (e.g., for Zoom, Microsoft, Apple and Signal, among others).

In addition to being an IACR Fellow, Dr. Dodis is the recipient of 2021 and 2019 IACR Test-of-Time Awards for his work on Fuzzy Extractors and Verifiable Random Functions, National Science Foundation CAREER Award, Faculty Awards from AWS, Facebook, Google, IBM Algorand, Protocol Labs, JP Morgan, Stellar Foundation and VMware, and Best Paper Award at 2005 Public Key Cryptography Conference. As an undergraduate student, he was also a winner of the US-Canada Putnam Mathematical Competition in 1995.

Dr. Dodis has more than 160 scientific publications at various top venues, was the Program co-Chair for the 2022 CRYPTO and 2015 Theory of Cryptography Conference, the editor of Journal of Cryptology (2012–2019), has been on program committees of many international conferences (including FOCS, STOC, CRYPTO and Eurocrypt), and gave numerous invited lectures and courses at various venues.

Dr. J.R. Rao

Affiliation: IBM Research

Talk title: Securing Quantum-Centric Supercomputing: Trust at the Convergence of AI, HPC, and Quantum

Abstract: The U.S. Department of Energy’s Genesis Mission and its American Science Cloud place AI at the center of scientific computing, compressing the path from question to discovery. The next leap is the emergence of quantum-centric supercomputing (QCSC) platforms, bringing the convergence of AI supercomputers, high-performance computing, and quantum processing. There is tremendous opportunity from combining the computational power of these computing paradigms, but securing them remains a challenge.

Drawing on work with colleagues at IBM Research, we will present an emerging security architecture for QCSC, organized around three shifts, each answering a challenge that classical models of authorization, confidentiality, and attestation were not designed to handle. Autonomous AI agents become first-class principals that synthesize quantum workloads at runtime necessitating complete security mediation with fine-grained enforcement, sandboxes and guardrails. Scientific assets and sensitive data are shared across organizational and jurisdictional boundaries, that are mutually untrusting, requiring the security architecture to enable contract negotiation, enforcement and reconciliation throughout the workload lifecycle. Trust must be established across a hybrid fabric of CPUs, GPUs, and QPUs posing challenges for end-to-end security and distributed attestation.

We will highlight the open research problems the field must solve and the role that standards will play in making these guarantees real.

Biography: Dr. J.R. Rao is an IBM Fellow and Chief Technology Officer for Security Research at IBM, based at the IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center. His career has been defined by meeting the security challenges posed by each emerging industry platform, from the mainframe to cloud, AI, and quantum, with his current work lying at the intersection of securing AI, quantum, and semiconductors. That work guides a global team of more than 200 researchers advancing cybersecurity, AI security (both using AI for security and securing AI systems), cloud and systems security, cryptography, quantum-safe migration, the security of quantum-centric supercomputing, and confidential computing. He works closely with commercial and government customers, academic partners, and IBM business units to drive innovative technologies into IBM’s products and services and into definitive industry standards. The goal of his research is to significantly raise the bar on the quality of security while simultaneously easing the overhead of developing and deploying secure solutions.

A Fellow of the International Association for Cryptologic Research (IACR), Dr. Rao received the 2022 CHES Test of Time Award for his foundational work on Template Attacks, part of a body of research in side-channel cryptanalysis that has shaped the field. He co-chairs the Technical Steering Committee of the OASIS Open Coalition for Secure AI (CoSAI) and has been instrumental in shaping industry standards through longstanding collaboration with NIST and government agencies. He has published more than 50 papers in premier security venues and holds over 35 US and European patents. Dr. Rao earned his doctorate from the University of Texas at Austin, a Master’s degree in Computer Science from the State University of New York at Stony Brook, and a Bachelor of Technology degree in Electrical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur.