The Six Pillars
An integrated, multi-layer stack of technologies and policies -- from hardware up to applications -- all designed to be resilient against quantum-based attacks.
Post-Quantum Cryptographic Standards
At the foundation are quantum-resistant encryption algorithms and protocols. Europe must contribute to and adopt cryptographic standards that remain secure against quantum computers. This means transitioning away from vulnerable algorithms (like RSA and ECC) towards post-quantum cryptography (PQC) for data encryption, digital signatures, and key exchanges.
Coordinated standardisation efforts through ENISA, ETSI, and NIST liaison ensure that Europe maintains diverse, EU-endorsed PQ algorithms with built-in crypto-agility -- the ability to swap algorithms quickly as the threat landscape evolves.
Hardware Root of Trust
Europe's pursuit of digital sovereignty begins at the silicon level. We need to develop and deploy secure hardware modules that are designed to handle post-quantum algorithms and manage cryptographic keys safely.
Thanks to the EU Chips Act's boost to semiconductor capacity, Europe can embed quantum-safe by design principles into next-generation chips. This includes PQ-capable secure elements, hardware security modules (HSMs), trusted CPUs, true random number generators, and tamper-proof key storage.
Post-Quantum Secure OS and Software Platform
The Quantum-Safe Stack envisions the very software platforms we use being hardened against quantum-era threats. This involves updating cryptographic libraries in operating systems and software to use post-quantum algorithms, fostering security-by-design in software development.
The goal is an EU-origin open-source OS with PQ crypto by default, crypto-agile libraries, secure boot chains, and cryptographically signed software updates -- ensuring that the entire software supply chain is quantum-resilient.
Sovereign Quantum-Safe Cloud and Data Infrastructure
In the cloud and data layer, the initiative complements efforts like Gaia-X by ensuring European cloud services and data centers are not only federated and sovereign, but also quantum-resilient.
This means integrating PQC into cloud storage encryption, database security, and inter-datacenter communications. Gaia-X-compatible PQ-protected cloud and data spaces ensure that European data sovereignty extends to the quantum era.
Quantum-Secure Digital Identity and Applications
A crucial layer involves our digital identity, authentication, and application ecosystem. Europe is already pioneering an EU-wide digital identity through eIDAS and the EU Digital Wallet -- these must be made quantum-safe.
The Quantum-Safe Stack would update identity verification protocols, digital signature schemes, and authentication tokens to post-quantum versions. Critical applications in health, finance, and IoT must adopt PQ crypto to maintain trust and integrity in the quantum era.
Secure Quantum-Safe Communications Networks
At the top of the stack, we must secure the channels over which data travels. This has two dimensions: upgrading classical networks with quantum-safe encryption, and deploying new quantum-based networks for extra security.
The initiative works in tandem with the European Quantum Communication Infrastructure (EuroQCI). PQC-enabled TLS, VPN, 5G, and satellite links combined with EuroQCI's quantum-key-distribution overlay create a comprehensive communications security layer for Europe.