QSNS 2026

The development of quantum computers opens exciting new frontiers. At the same time, a cryptographically relevant quantum computer has the potential to break the foundations of current digital security. The global research and industry community is working on two complementary directions, (i) the definition of PQC algorithms, coordinated by NIST, and (ii) the transition of protocols, networks and systems to PQC.
The QSNS2026 workshop will address the most pressing cybersecurity challenges of the quantum era from an engineering perspective, with the aim of contributing to global efforts towards an agile, post-quantum or post-quantum/traditional hybrid and standards-based transition to PQC of the digital infrastructures we all use today.

QSNS2026 encourages multidisciplinary perspectives and welcomes papers on topics that include, but are not limited to the following:

• Design and/or analysis of post-quantum cryptographic algorithms
• Evolution of standard network and communication protocols to achieve PQ security
• Cryptographic agility in systems and protocols, to easily support different kinds of PQC algorithms
• Design and implementation of hybrid cryptographic schemas (post-quantum / traditional)
• Design and implementation of hybrid QKD / PQC solutions
• System and application support for PQC
• Hardware and/or software support for PQC

The QSNS2026 workshop organisers invite original research papers that have not been previously published and are not currently under review for publication elsewhere.

Submitted papers must be no longer than six (6) pages, including references, and must follow the IEEE proceedings guidelines. IEEE provides Manuscript Templates for Conference Proceedings. All accepted papers will be published as part of the IEEE ISCC 2026 Workshop Proceedings in the IEEE Digital Library.

Submissions should be uploaded to EDAS QSNS 2026 Workshop by the submission deadline. Each submission will be reviewed by at least three members of the TPC. One author per accepted paper must attend the workshop event and register on the IEEE ISCC 2026 website.

Workshop Co-Chairs

Prof. Antonio Lioy, Politecnico di Torino, Italy
Dr. Andrea Vesco, LINKS Foundation, Italy

Technical Program Committee

Davide Bellizia, TELSY, Italy
Diana Gratiela Berbecaru, Politecnico di Torino, Italy
Piedad Brox, CSIC, Spain
Eros Camacho-Ruiz, CSIC, Spain
Francesco Carbone, LINKS Foundation, Italy
Ilias Cherkaoui, Walton Institute, Ireland
Alessio Claudio, LINKS Foundation, Italy
David Domingo Martín, INDRA, Spain
Mattin Elorza Forcada, Telefonica, Spain
Javier Faba, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Spain
Jesus Garcia, Universidad de Murcia, Spain
Michail Alexandros Kourtis, NCSR Demokritos, Greece
Diego Lopez, Telefonica, Spain
Lukas Malina, FEEC, Brno University of Technology, Czech Republic
Davide Margaria, LINKS Foundation, Italy
Jarosław Miszczak, Institute of Theoretical and Applied Informatics, Polish Academy of Sciences, Poland
Antonino Nespola, LINKS Foundation, Italy
Antonio Pastor, Telefonica, Spain
Bianca Rampazzo, LINKS Foundation, Italy
Carlo Sanna, Politecnico di Torino, Italy
Antonio Skarmeta Gomez, Universidad de Murcia, Spain
Nikolay Tcholtchev, FOKUS Fraunhofer Institute for Open Communication Systems, Germany
Nicola Tuveri, Tampere University, Finland

Publicity Chair

Davide Margaria, LINKS Foundation, Italy

June 23^rd – QSNS Session 1: Rossini Room (09:30 – 11:00)

Antonio Lioy
Workshop introduction

Rubén Méndez, Mattin Antartiko Elorza Forcada, Andrés Ruiz-Chamorro, Grazia Donghia, Ramón Querol, Javier Faba, Victor Hernando Fernandez, Luis Felix Gonzalez, Juan Brito, Vicente Martin and Antonio Pastor
Quantum-Secure Software Network Environments for Telco Operators

Antonio Pastor, Miguel Torres Valls, Mattin Antartiko Elorza Forcada, Victor Hernando Fernandez and Diego Lopez
Validating Post-Quantum and Hybrid Certificate Automation Through ACME-STAR in IPsec Environments

David Schatz, Hedwig Koerfgen and Guenter Schaefer
A Distributed Protocol for Multipath Key Reinforcement in Virtual Private Networks

June 23^rd – QSNS Session 2: Rossini Room (11:30 – 13:00)

Franco Cirillo, Maria Caterina D’Aloia and Christian Esposito
Priority-Aware Key Assignment for Exhaustion-Resilient QKD Key Management Systems

Saulė Janavičiūtė, Marcin Niemiec, Dominykas Razmadze, Darius Drungilas, Žydrūnas Lukošius and Mindaugas Kurmis
Joint Parameter Scaling for Enhanced Security in Tree Parity Machine-Based QKD Reconciliation

Ravishankar Borgaonkar, Dina Hagen Steinskog and Thomas Zinner
QKD Security in Practice: A Systematization of Infrastructure-Level Threats and Defenses

Pablo Navarro-Torrero, Eros Camacho-Ruiz, Macarena Cristina Martínez-Rodríguez and Piedad Brox
A Hybrid Classical and Post-Quantum Secure Element for Constrained Devices

June 23^rd – QSNS Session 3: Rossini Room (14:00 – 15:30)

Oleg Haiduk and Volodymyr Zvieriev
Risk-Based Model for Assessing Readiness and Prioritizing Post-Quantum Migration of International Communications

Sakshyam Panda, Debasish Jana, Iakovos Pittaras, Vasilios A. Siris, Thomas Tsouparopoulos, Nikos Fotiou, Iordanis Koutsopoulos, Jesus Garcia, Jose Manuel Merlos and Antonio Skarmeta Gomez
A Data Lifecycle-Aware Risk Assessment Framework for Post-Quantum Cryptography

Diana Berbecaru, Alessandro Vanella and Antonio Lioy
On Evaluating Post-Quantum Transition in eIDAS 2.0 Framework and the EU Digital Identity Wallet

Michail Alexandros Kourtis, Virginia Lampropoulou and George K. Xilouris
Quantum-Resistant Distributed Ledgers for End-to-End Network Slicing: Post-Quantum Cryptographic Integration and Performance Evaluation

June 23^rd – QSNS Session 4: Rossini Room (16:00 – 17:00)

Lukas Köder, Nils Lohmiller, Nick Leist, Bastian Buck and Tobias Heer
WPA3-Personal Meets Post-Quantum Cryptography: Early Experimental Performance Observations

Ciaran Mullan
Hybrid Key Exchange for Carrier-Grade MACsec: A System-Level Performance Study

Antonio Lioy
Workshop wrap-up and conclusions