Award-winning project
Post-Quantum Security
DNP3Shield
A post-quantum cybersecurity solution that hardens critical electric power infrastructure against quantum-era threats. Named a Top 3 global winner at the EPRI Cyber Quantum Challenge 2026.
The challenge
The control protocols that run the electric power grid predate the quantum threat. When large-scale quantum computers arrive, the cryptography that protects grid communications will no longer hold, and an attacker will be able to forge or replay control messages against critical infrastructure.
Who it is for
Electric utilities and operators of critical electric power infrastructure.
My role
I invented and designed the solution and entered it into the Electric Power Research Institute Cyber Quantum Challenge 2026, where judges named it a Top 3 global winner.
How it works
- The defense sits on the grid control channel itself, so utilities adopt it without rebuilding their systems.
- It protects the traffic that operates the grid, and it leaves the existing equipment in place.
- It fits equipment that runs for decades and cannot carry heavy computing.
Security and compliance
- It closes the exposure created when an attacker records grid traffic today and waits for the computing power to read it.
- Equipment with a multi-decade service life is protected before the threat arrives.
The decisions that mattered
- I put the defense where utilities can adopt it without replacing field equipment.
- I aligned it with the standards regulators and utilities will be held to.
Outcomes
- The Electric Power Research Institute named the work a Top 3 global winner at the Cyber Quantum Challenge 2026.
- The Quantum World Congress 2026 recognized the work.
- The design contributes to the Electric Power Research Institute white paper.