ERC grant helps research team advance cryptographic security against quantum computing threats and side-channel attacks, enhancing data protection for the future.
The rise of quantum computing threatens to break current data security systems, potentially exposing sensitive information to new types of attacks. Professor Jean-Sebastien Coron has secured additional funding to enhance their innovative cryptographic solutions.
“In a side-channel attack, attackers use physical information leaked during cryptographic operations, such as power consumption or electromagnetic signals, to discover secret data,” explains Professor Coron.
For example, when it comes to banking: a payment card uses slightly different amounts of power to process each PIN digit. By measuring these power differences, attackers can potentially figure out the secret code, like guessing a password by listening to keyboard sounds.
Coron’s team works to prevent these vulnerabilities while also preparing for the quantum computing era.
Building on success
The European Research Council (ERC) has awarded Coron’s team a €150,000 Proof of Concept grant to expand their work. This new funding supplements their existing €2.5 million ERC Advanced Grant CLOUDMAP project, which began in 2018.
The team has already achieved significant progress in collaboration with industry partners, including Idemia and CryptoExperts in France. They have improved security measures for post-quantum cryptographic algorithms, including enhanced protection techniques for Kyber encryption.
Kyber is a new type of encryption algorithm designed to protect data even when quantum computers become powerful enough to break today’s security standards. Much like updating from a simple padlock to a sophisticated digital lock, Kyber represents the next generation of data protection that banks, governments, and companies will need to keep their information secure in the quantum computing era.
Taking solutions from lab to market
The new project, running from May 2025 to October 2026, will strengthen the team with an additional post-doctoral researcher. They will work alongside two doctoral students and two post-docs to create a comprehensive testing framework for cryptographic algorithms.
The research has broad applications across industries where data security is crucial. Financial services, healthcare, government operations, and telecommunications companies can benefit from these enhanced protection measures against quantum computing threats.
‟ The goal is to implement the algorithms developed during my ERC Advanced Grant and collaborate further with industry.”

Full professor in Informatics
Prof. Coron emphasizes the importance of practical implementation: “The goal is to implement the algorithms developed during my ERC Advanced Grant and collaborate further with industry.” This industry collaboration will help validate their solutions across different platforms and real-world scenarios.
This means everyday activities like online banking, medical record access, and mobile communications will stay secure even as quantum computers become more powerful, protecting consumers’ sensitive personal information and privacy.
About Jean-Sébastien Coron
Jean-Sébastien Coron is a Full professor in Informatics at the Faculty of Science, Technology and Medicine (FSTM) at the University of Luxembourg. His work focuses on cryptography and he is the author of more than 60 publications in this area. His ERC Advanced Grant is hosted at SnT.