2026-06-18 –, E112 (capacity 156)
From DevConf 2025 and recent NIST recommendations, this session presents updates to the QUBIP OpenSSL Provider and QUBIP Firefox, demonstrating practical post-quantum cryptography (PQC) integration.
A live demo will show a familiar Firefox browsing session seamlessly using PQC. By inspecting the security tab while connecting to a PQ-enabled QUBIP server, we'll demonstrate successful mutual authentication and key exchange enabled via qryptotoken, a Rust-based PKCS#11 soft-token derived from Kryoptic, loaded alongside Firefox’s default NSS token.
On the server-side, nginx runs over OpenSSL 3.2 with aurora - our Rust-based OpenSSL Provider. This architecture improves cryptographic agility through shallow loadable modules, separating stable systems from the rapidly evolving PQC ecosystem - beyond what can be approximated with vanilla Firefox and OpenSSL using oqsprovider.
The session concludes with a discussion of methodology and how significant such modular designs are in PQC world.
I am Akif Mehmood from Tampere, Finland. Currently, I am doctoral researcher at Tampere University and my work focuses on PQC transition for safe internet browsing. Other than security studies, my interests include playing video games, badminton, volley ball, pool, and learning about new security tools.
Information Security graduate and a Researcher with strong skills in software development, cryptography, and AI systems. Experienced in Python and Rust, with hands-on work in implementing, testing, and debugging secure and performance-critical systems. Strong analytical and problem-solving abilities developed through research and practical engineering work.