ORQESTRA aims to provide practical, formally verified and efficient implementations of Post-Quantum Crypto (PQC) algorithms and abstractions addressing the current need towards bridging the gap between the foundational primitives and hard mathematical problems of PQC to the operational deployment of cryptosystems that can provide certifiable quantum-level security. To do so, ORQESTRA will develop a palette of programmable (SW) optimizations and shared (HW) accelerators capable of enhancing the execution of lattice-, code-, hash- based crypto families, in a cost-effective manner, with the resulting benefit of crypto agility. Furthermore, ORQESTRA offers this PQC Ensemble through (3) different novel design modalities: a hybrid QR-TCB, a PQK SDK and a PQC “As-a-Service”. These modalities guarantee the applicability of PQC primitives to both high-end defence applications and low-end embedded devices in the field, regardless of the design constraints of the underlined infrastructure and their position in the Edge-Cloud Continuum.
In addition, ORQESTRA goes a step further and demonstrates how such PQC advancements can unlock the full potential of nascent quantum information technologies, towards practical QKD, through dynamic networking over zero-trust software-defined networks, enabling the sharing of quantum keys with practical security, over long distances and legacy defence infrastructures. The added value of the ORQESTRA’s offerings will be validated in 8 real-world defence-oriented use cases and 2 Proof-of-Concept evaluation testbeds, inducing Free-Space QKD/PQC, with high security, trust, timing and performance requirements, focusing on protecting Land, Maritime and Aerial critical infrastructures and communications.
Βuilding on work performed in HellasQCI, where NCSRD maintains a quantum-secured fiber link with Alexandra Hospital, already equipped with QKD systems from GRNET, NCSRD will support Sub-Component P1.2: Quantum-Safe Anonymous Military Hospital Health Records Sharing through a simulation-driven environment tailored to defence and healthcare scenarios.
NCSRD will lead the use case “Securing medical data stored from a hospital to a cloud service provider”, delivering innovation across three layers: a. Application Layer: Upgrade to TLS 1.3 with PQC algorithms (Kyber, Dilithium) embedded in QUIC, and Alignment of EHR systems with FHIR for secure interoperability, b. Network Layer: Experimentation with SDN and SCION routing enhanced by AI-driven routing intelligence, c. Security Layer: Deployment of hybrid quantum security frameworks blending QKD with PQC, and Development of an AI-enhanced User-KMS for dynamic encryption key management. These contributions will be realized using NCSRD’s operational infrastructure, ensuring practical validation of quantum-safe technologies in realistic healthcare environments.