Canadian quantum talent crucial to building a quantum-safe future
New Institute for Quantum Computing graduate presents novel research at international cryptography conference
By Naomi Grosman
Canada’s expertise in quantum cryptography continues to play an influential role in shaping international conversations around cybersecurity and cryptography as advancements in quantum computing accelerate.
Earlier this month, the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) and Institute for Quantum Computing (IQC) Quantum Safe Cryptography Conference 2026 brought together leaders from industry, government and academia to discuss the future of cybersecurity and how to prepare technology infrastructure and adapt business practices for the post-quantum era—when quantum computers will be powerful enough to break many current encryption systems.
IQC Postdoctoral Researcher Dr. Devashish Tupkary, who graduated last week from University of Waterloo with a PhD in Physics, Quantum Information, was one of the many presenters at the ETSI/IQC conference, which convened participants from around the world in Ottawa.
Tupkary recently defended his PhD thesis at IQC, where his research focused on the security analysis of quantum key distribution (QKD), a type of cryptography that allows users to share secure keys and detect the presence of any potential eavesdropper by using the properties of quantum mechanics — like superposition and entanglement.
He was part of a research group that included IQC graduate students Shlok Nahar, Amir Arqand, Ernest Y.-Z. Tan, all of whom were supervised by Dr. Norbert Lütkenhaus, Executive Director of IQC and Professor, Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Waterloo.
At the ETSI/IQC conference, he presented the group’s new work for the first time A rigorous and complete security proof of decoy-state BB84 quantum key distribution. The paper fills a critical gap pointed out in a previous review of security proofs of the practical decoy-state BB84 QKD protocol. It presents a new, modular, rigorous, and widely applicable proof to more easily verify security of a broad class of practical QKD protocols.
“We need to ensure a higher standard of the mathematical proofs of QKD protocols before it's certified because people will be deploying it and need to trust that it works like it should. Now it’s all in one place and someone who understands math and quantum information can read the paper, understand the proof and more easily certify that the analysis is correct.”
- Dr. Devashish Tupkary, IQC Postdoctoral Researcher
This work and Tupkary’s presentation at the ETSI/IQC conference also highlights how important training and talent development is to build a quantum-safe future.
“Canadian talent is making important contributions to quantum cryptography and is helping define the future direction of secure communications,” says Lütkenhaus. “Canada’s continued interest and investment in QKD will help enable robust Canadian research that influences standards for quantum cryptography globally.”