HellasQCI will provide training material for security and IT experts working on cryptosystems which are integrated at different layers of a network to provide security. Focusing on the use of QKD, the workshop will provide the participants the required background to understand the capabilities of QKD and its potential integration into existing cryptosystems.

The training program for security and IT experts will initially cover the principles of cryptography, including asymmetric (e.g., RSA, DH) and symmetric (e.g., AES, OTP) cryptosystems. Emphasis will be given on their security against both classical and quantum computers.

An essential part of this program will focus on the fundamental principles underlying the most widely used QKD protocols, providing an overview of their implementation, the threat model, and the path that the QKD promises to deliver quantum safe encryption.

Aside from the system overview and implementation of QKD, emphasis will be placed on the integration of QKD solutions into the existing cryptographic infrastructure.

There will be also hands-on training, labs and exercises for the security and IT experts, which will include the incorporation of QKD to provable secure algorithms such as OTP, as well the integration of QKD into existing symmetric cryptographic infrastructures (e.g., AES).

Since QKD is a symmetric-key algorithm that cannot replicate all the functionalities of public-key cryptography, it is likely to be combined with PQC to jointly form the infrastructure of a quantum-safe communication network.

The training board of HellasQCI will closely monitor relevant standardisation efforts (e.g., NIST) as well as regulatory initiatives and their synergies/impact on the deployed QKD systems. Updates will be incorporated into the training materials.

Overall, the workshop aims to bring together actual specifications and constraints of real-world security infrastructures with QKD solutions while discussing scientific and technological challenges related to this integration in practical deployments. At the end of the workshop the trainees will be able to use the QKD infrastructure and will be able to understand the basic concepts that underlie its operation.