ACM CCS Workshop on Quantum-Resistant Cryptography and Security

(ACM QRSEC 2025)

In conjunction with ACM CCS 2025

October 13, 2025

Taipei, Taiwan

Overview

Quantum computing is poised to transform numerous fields, with cryptography standing at the forefront. As quantum capabilities advance, it becomes imperative to rethink the foundations of secure system design for a post-quantum world. Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) seeks to develop cryptographic algorithms resilient against both classical and quantum adversaries, and has been an active research area for decades. In recent years, PQC has garnered substantial industrial attention, catalyzed by the standardization process initiated by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in 2017. Following a rigorous multi-year process, NIST announced the first set of PQC standards in 2024, marking a pivotal milestone for the field.

The Workshop on Quantum-Resistant Cryptography and Security (QRSEC 2025) aims to bring together researchers, practitioners, and industry leaders to present, discuss, and advance the state of the art in quantum-safe cryptography and related areas. We invite original research papers on all aspects of quantum-resistant security, including theoretical foundations, algorithm design, cryptographic engineering, protocol development, risk assessment, and migration strategies. The workshop will also foster dialogue on the broader impact of quantum computing on cybersecurity, system security, and privacy.

Keynote Speakers

Dr. Ramana Kompella

Cisco Fellow & Head of Cisco Research, USA

Quantum Resistant Security

Abstract: Quantum computing poses an immense threat to classical digital infrastructure security, as existing encryption schemes are vulnerable to Shor’s and Grover’s algorithms. The accelerating quantum computing timeline makes this risk particularly imminent. Harvest-nowdecrypt-later threats elevate the security risks further. NIST has recently standardized post-quantum cryptography (PQC) schemes resistant to quantum computing. While enterprises will eventually adopt these new schemes, many challenges remain to be addressed. In this paper, we outline a few to encourage the broader community to focus on them. To begin with, crypto observability in large enterprises is a challenging task, given the wide variety of hardware, applications, and software deployed with cryptography artefacts used across the depth and breadth of the infrastructure. We also cannot fully rely solely on PQC schemes to make an infrastructure quantum-safe, since just because they have not been broken yet does not mean they can never be broken in the future. Therefore, we need crypto resiliency, specifically, the use of quantum-resistant network protocols, in addition to quantum key distribution (QKD), that can offer additional layers of defense against quantum attacks. Finally, we need crypto agility as a foundational paradigm to deal with the constant new threats that are emerging, ensuring more efficient and faster response and remediation. We argue that enterprises need to consider all these three approaches in a holistic manner in order to achieve a practical path towards quantum resistance.

Bio: Ramana Kompella is currently a Cisco Fellow and Head of Cisco Research, where he leads a team of world-class researchers conducting research on emerging technologies of strategic interest to Cisco such as AI/ML, Quantum, Networking, and Cybersecurity. In his past experience, he was a co-founder and led engineering at Candid Alpha project that built the network assurance engine (NAE) for formal verification of data center networks. Past roles also include staff network architect at Google, and also co-founder/CTO at AppFormix (acquired by Juniper). Before that, he was a tenured Associate Professor at Purdue in the CS departmenl where he led research on networking and systems. He holds a PhD degree from UCSD, MS from Stanford and BTech degree from IIT Bombay, all in Computer Science.

Dr. Dustin Moody

NIST PQC, USA

Advancing Post-Quantum Cryptography: NIST's Standardization Efforts

Abstract: The advent of quantum computing poses a significant threat to current cryptographic systems, necessitating a transition to quantum-resistant cryptography, also known as post-quantum cryptography (PQC). The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has been at the forefront of this effort, spearheading a global standardization process to develop and deploy PQC algorithms. This talk will provide an overview of NIST's PQC standardization project, highlighting key milestones, challenges, and future directions.

Bio: Dustin Moody is a mathematician at the Computer Security Division, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and he leads the post-quantum cryptography project at NIST, Gaithersburg, MD 20877 USA. His research interests include elliptic curves and their applications in cryptography. Moody received a Ph.D. from the University of Washington.

Prof. Rei Safavi-Naini

University of Calgary, Canada

Post-Quantum Hybrid Encryption from Correlated Randomness: QKEM and Biometric KEMs

Abstract: The Key Encapsulation Mechanism (KEM) is a widely used publickey cryptographic primitive that has evolved into numerous variants and found diverse applications in recent years. In this talk, we explore KEMs in the setting of correlated randomness, where Alice and Bob, instead of using public keys, have access to correlated samples from a shared random source. We present two instantiations of this setting: one where quantum communication is used to generate correlated randomness between Alice and Bob, and another where the correlated randomness is derived from a biometric source. KEMs in the correlated randomness setting can yield shared keys with either information-theoretic or post-quantum security. When used in conjunction with a Data Encapsulation Mechanism (DEM), they enable a quantum-safe encrypted and authenticated channel between Alice and Bob.

Bio: Rei Safavi-Naini is a Professor of Computer Science at the University of Calgary, Canada. She previously held the NSERC/Telus Industrial Research Chair, the Alberta Innovates Strategic Chair, and the iCORE Chair in Information Security. She co-founded the Institute for Security, Privacy and Information Assurance at Calgary and served as its Director until 2019. She has been program chair of leading conferences including CRYPTO, ASIACRYPT, ACM ASIACCS, and Financial Cryptography, and has served on the editorial boards of IEEE Transactions on Information Theory, IEEE Transactions on Dependable and Secure Computing, ACM TISSEC, and ACM Computing Surveys. Her research spans the theory and practice of cryptography, with current focus on information-theoretic and quantum-safe cryptography, and the security of networked and decentralized systems. She was named a Fellow of the International Association for Cryptologic Research (IACR) in 2023.

Technical Program

Topics of Interest

The following subtopics represent but may not include all interested areas.

Post-quantum cryptography (PQC) – theory and practice
Theoretical foundations: Advances in lattice-based, hash-based, multivariate, coding, isogeny-based PQC, information-theoretical approaches
Standardization efforts, adaptation, and deployment strategies
Quantum threats to computing infrastructure, hardware, firmware, and software
Quantum-safe supply chain, cryptography bill of materials
Machine learning for post-quantum cryptanalysis
Quantum-resistant systems and frameworks
Quantum-resistant networks, next-generation (e.g., 5G and beyond, LEO/satellite networks)
Quantum-resistant systems, hardware and side-channel resistance in PQC
Post-quantum security for blockchain, IoT, and cloud environments
Risk analysis and remediation planning
Regulatory and compliance requirements

Important Dates

Submission Deadline: July 12, 2025 AoE
Notification Date: August 9, 2025
Camera Ready: August 22, 2025

Submission

Submissions to QRSEC must be written in English and fully anonymized—author names, affiliations, acknowledgments and any identifying citations must be omitted. Each paper should begin with a title and a short abstract, and must be submitted as a single PDF file formatted in the double-column ACM format using the sigconf template (a simpler version is available here). Authors must not alter font sizes, margins, or any other aspects of the standard template.

We invite two categories of submissions:

Full Papers
Intended for research with relatively mature content, full papers are limited to a maximum of 10 pages total, including references and any appendices. Submissions may present exploratory or recently published work suited for broader visibility. Depending on the number of accepted manuscripts, full papers may receive longer presentation slots at the workshop.
Short Papers
Short papers should present ongoing or future work—position statements, early-stage or visionary ideas—in a concise form. These are limited to 5 pages total, including references and appendices. Authors must clearly indicate a short paper by prepending “Short Paper:” to the title.

Submissions that do not adhere to these formatting or anonymization requirements may be rejected without review. All manuscripts must be uploaded through the official submission site and must follow the aforementioned guidelines in order to be considered.

Proceedings and Publication
The proceedings of the workshop will be published by the ACM and made available to all workshop attendees. Papers will also be included in the ACM Digital Library under a specific ISBN.

Double Submission Policy
In accordance with ACM policy, double or simultaneous submissions are not permitted. Papers that are simultaneously under review by another conference or journal, or that have been submitted elsewhere, will be rejected without consideration. However, technical reports and preprints published online (e.g., on arXiv) are permitted.

Research Ethics
Ethical conduct in research is essential for maintaining public trust and scientific integrity. All submissions will be reviewed for ethical considerations. Papers that fail to meet ethical standards will be rejected regardless of technical merit. Because ethical issues vary between projects, there is no universal checklist; instead, researchers are expected to treat ethical analysis as an integral component of their work—beginning at project inception, continuing throughout, and culminating in the publication process.

Peer-Review Integrity Policy
All QRSEC participants must adhere to ACM’s Policy Against Harassment, Code of Ethics, and Publications Policies. Reviewers, including PC members and external reviewers, are expected to uphold the integrity of the peer-review process and avoid conflicts of interest (e.g., reviewer collusion). Violations will be penalized in accordance with ACM’s penalty guidelines.

If you observe a violation, please contact the program chairs or SIGSAC officers. We are committed to protecting the confidentiality of all reports.

Organizing Committee

General Chair

Cristina Nita-Rotaru (Northeastern University)

Program Chair

Ashish Kundu (Cisco Research)
Attila A. Yavuz (University of South Florida)

Local Area Chair

Chung-Wei Lin (National Taiwan University)

Web Chair

Tushin Mallick (Northeastern University)

Publication Chair

Saleh Darzi (University of South Florida)

Program Committee

Reza Azarderakhsh (FAU and PQSecure)
Paulo L. Barreto (University of Washington, Tacoma)
Shi Bai (Florida Atlantic University)
Elisa Bertino (Purdue University)
Craig Gentry (Cornami)
Daniel Genkin (Georgia Tech)
David Jao (University of Waterloo)
James Joshi (University of Pittsburgh)
Imtiaz Karim (Purdue University and UT Dallas)
Aniket Kate (Purdue University and Supra Research)
Chung-Wei Lin (National Taiwan University)
Mehran Mozaffari Kermani (University of South Florida)
Alexander Nelson (University of Arkansas, Fayetteville)
Surya Nepal (CSIRO)
Thomas Prest (PQShield)
Markku-Juhani O. Saarinen (Tampere University)
Reihaneh Safavi-Naini (University of Calgary)
Jaideep Vidya (Rutgers University)

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