Secure communication in the quantum era : (group) key establishment

Abstract

This paper gives a brief overview of NATO SPS project G5448. This project, which involves partners from four countries, focuses on the task of establishing a cryptographic key among a group of users over a (classic) public communication network. It is assumed that the adversary may eventually obtain access to quantum computers, i. e., standard cryptographic hardness assumptions like factoring integers being asymptotically hard may be invalidated. Next to laying out the basic project structure, we describe some of the work that has already been done since the beginning of the project, including in particular some of the work done by students.