Jan Hajný and FEKT BUT win second place in the 2025 Minister of the Interior Award

The Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Communication (FEEC) at BUT achieved remarkable success in the 2025 Minister of the Interior Award, with its project winning prestigious second place out of 12 nominees for achievements in security research. The awarded project, “Network Cybersecurity in the Post-Quantum Era”, was carried out by the FEKT BUT team in collaboration with CESNET and VŠB-TU Ostrava. The research was highly praised for its direct practical impact and its ability to increase organizational resilience, especially for critical infrastructure, against modern cyber threats.


Prof. Jan Hajný. | Author: JIC

Professor Jan Hajný: Leader in Post-Quantum Cryptography

The key figure and principal investigator of this successful project is Jan Hajný from the Department of Telecommunications at FEEC BUT. His research group focuses on strategic research and the development of systems that secure modern communication networks, making them resistant to threats associated with the advent of quantum computers. The project aims to verify the practical applicability of Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) and Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) in real-world applications specific to the Czech Republic.

The research activities of Jan Hajný’s team focus primarily on:

  • Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) and its implementation for protecting critical communication systems.

  • Hardware-accelerated encryption for data transfer at speeds over 100 Gb/s.

  • Building and testing a Quantum Communication Infrastructure (QCI).

Quantum-Resistant Encryptor and Quantum Security Laboratory

One of the tangible and publicly presented outcomes of the work by Jan Hajný and Lukáš Malina is a high-speed hybrid quantum-resistant encryptor. This breakthrough device, developed within the NESPOQ project (Network Cybersecurity in the Post-Quantum Era), combines principles of quantum mechanics with modern post-quantum cryptographic algorithms. It is capable of hardware-accelerated data encryption at speeds up to 100 Gb/s, crucial for securing critical communication systems. The technology was first publicly demonstrated in June 2025.

Practical testing of these technologies is conducted in the Quantum Security Laboratory with the so-called Quantum Communication Infrastructure (QCI) at FEEC BUT. The laboratory, which houses high-speed encryptors developed directly at BUT, is a unique research infrastructure in the Czech Republic connecting high-speed networks with quantum-resistant technologies, particularly for QKD, PQC, and strong encryption.

European Coordination and International Impact

The quality of research in Brno is also reflected internationally. The BUT team, under the coordination of Professor Hajný, has earned the trust of the European Union to lead the large-scale European project QARC (Quantum-Resistant Cryptography in Practice). The project brings together 18 partners from 12 countries and aims to strengthen the transition to quantum-secure cryptography in practice. The project launches in January 2026, and the results recognized by the Minister of the Interior Award will be further developed there.

Information about the 2025 Minister of the Interior Award is available on the website of the Ministry of the Interior of the Czech Republic.

Author: Zdeňka Koubová

 

Responsible person Ing. Zdeňka Koubová
Date of publication