March 14, 2025 -- Samsung SDS once again proved its excellent technological competence in post-quantum cryptography (PQC), a next-generation security technology.

Samsung SDS announced that its AIMer algorithm, jointly developed through industry-academia collaboration with Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), was selected as the final winner in the PQC Algorithm for Digital Signature category at the national KpqC Competition.

KpqCs means Korean post-quantum Cryptography

PQC protects user data even more securely against the possibility of quantum computers compromising the security of existing encryption systems.

The above national competition was held to secure Korean PQC in preparation for the quantum computing era. The competition was conducted in two categories – Digital Signature and Key Establishment.

• Digital signature is a cryptographic algorithm that verifies the authenticity of the source, checks data integrity and provides non-repudiation by signers.
• Key establishment is a cryptographic algorithm for sharing a secret key between parties.

Samsung SDS was in charge of designing and implementing cryptographic algorithms, while KAIST (Crypt Lab) was responsible for security analysis.

AIMer is a cryptographic algorithm based on an internally developed one-way function, rather than based on mathematical challenges such as prime factorization. One-way function based algorithms are known to be more secure than those based on mathematical challenges in quantum computing environments, as the former cannot be reversed after encryption.

AIMer is similar to the highly secure FIPS205 (SLH-DSA), one of the PQC standard algorithms announced by the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in 2024. However, AIMer is 6.35 times faster and its signature size is 2.9 times smaller, making it easier to be applied to lightweight devices, such as mobile and IoT devices.

• FIPS205 is a stateless hash-based digital signature algorithm

The selected algorithm will be standardized in accordance with domestic and international criteria, as outlined in the master plan for the Nationwide Migration to PQC project unveiled by the National Intelligence Service (NIS) and Ministry of Science and ICT. Accordingly, Samsung SDS plans to pursue standardization in line with domestic and international criteria.

Samsung SDS has already piloted the application of PQC in the communication segments of the Samsung Cloud Platform (SCP) and will continue expanding the application. Additionally, S-CAPE, a technology for migration to PQC, will be provided through SCP.

• S-CAPE, or Samsung SDS Crypto Agility Platform for Enterprise, automatically identifies and monitors cryptography systems with quantum vulnerability within IT systems.

Meanwhile, Samsung SDS is the only Asian company that has participated in the ‘Migration to PQC’ project organized by NIST since 2022. The company has continuously registered technologies in the cybersecurity practice guides ‘Migration to Post-Quantum Cryptography Quantum Readiness: Testing Draft Standards (NIST SP 1800-38C),’ and ‘Migration to Post-Quantum Cryptography Quantum Readiness: Cryptographic Discovery (NIST SP 1800-38B).’

Young-june Gwon, Executive Vice President and Leader of Technology Research, said, “AIMer was selected as a standard algorithm in the national KpqC Competition, demonstrating Samsung SDS’s security capabilities and technological competence once again. Security is particularly crucial in enterprise cloud services. We will continue to implement and transition to PQC on SCP in an endeavor to provide more secure services.”