ExeQuantum CEO Samuel Tseitkin has been invited to present at KIST's annual Quantum Nexus Conference as part of an Australian Special Session on quantum cryptography.
On 4 September 2026, ExeQuantum will present at the 2026 Quantum Nexus Conference in Seoul, South Korea. The event is hosted by the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) and brings together quantum researchers, government officials, investors, and industry leaders from across the Korean and Australian quantum ecosystems.
Samuel Tseitkin, Founder and CEO of ExeQuantum, has been invited as part of a small Australian delegation organised by Quantum Australia to deliver a presentation on quantum-safe security infrastructure for critical industries. The session forms part of a new Australian Special Session within the conference programme, alongside presentations on quantum computing and quantum sensing.
Korea is among the most advanced nations globally in post-quantum cryptography adoption, with a programme that spans government policy, national standards, and active industry deployment.
MSIT and KISA pilot programmes. The Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT) and the Korea Internet and Security Agency (KISA) have been running PQC pilot conversion programmes across critical sectors since 2025. Initial pilots covered energy, medical, and administrative systems. In 2026, the programme expanded to include telecommunications, finance, transport, defence, and space, bringing the total to eight critical sectors under active PQC deployment.
The KpqC Competition. Korea ran its own national PQC algorithm competition, completed in 2025, developing Korean-origin post-quantum algorithms alongside the NIST standards (FIPS 203, 204, and 205). This parallel approach reflects a deliberate strategy: adopt international standards for interoperability while maintaining sovereign cryptographic capability. The KpqC competition produced algorithms optimised for Korean infrastructure requirements and validated through Korean academic and government review.
KCMVP. Korea's National Cryptographic Module Validation Program (KCMVP) mandates that any encryption module used by public institutions must pass domestic validation. Hybrid PQC modules incorporating both classical and post-quantum algorithms are now being submitted for KCMVP validation, creating an institutional pathway for PQC adoption across government.
Industry momentum. Korea's three major telecommunications providers (KT, SK Telecom, and LG Uplus) are all actively deploying post-quantum cryptography and competing on quantum security capability. MSIT has set a target of full-cycle PQC technology self-reliance by 2030, matching Australia's ASD Information Security Manual migration target of the same year.
Korea's approach to PQC illustrates a tension that every nation will face as quantum migration accelerates: how to adopt international cryptographic standards while retaining sovereign control over critical infrastructure.
The NIST post-quantum standards (ML-KEM, ML-DSA, and SLH-DSA) provide a common foundation for interoperability. But adopting an international standard does not require outsourcing the implementation to a foreign vendor or ceding control of the infrastructure that runs it. Korea's dual approach, running the KpqC competition alongside NIST adoption and validating modules through KCMVP domestically, demonstrates that standardisation and sovereignty are complementary rather than competing priorities.
This is a principle ExeQuantum has formalised in its STAC framework: Sovereign, Transparent, Agile, Compliant. Organisations should retain full control over their cryptographic infrastructure. Implementations should be auditable and formally verified. Platforms should be algorithm-agnostic, supporting NIST, national standards, and future algorithms without re-architecture. And compliance with multiple jurisdictional frameworks should be achievable from a single platform.
ExeQuantum's Bring Your Own Database (BYOD) architecture is the practical expression of this principle: all scan data remains in the client's own provisioned infrastructure. ExeQuantum never accesses, retains, or has persistent access to client data.
The presentation at the Quantum Nexus Conference will cover the practical challenges of PQC migration for critical infrastructure operators, drawing on ExeQuantum's experience deploying across five continents. Topics include:
The cryptographic visibility gap. Most organisations do not have a complete inventory of the cryptographic algorithms, certificates, keys, and protocols running across their infrastructure. Without this visibility, migration planning is guesswork.
The last-mile compiler gap. Correct source code is not sufficient for secure PQC implementation. Compilers such as GCC and Clang can introduce timing side-channels through optimisation, breaking the constant-time properties that PQC algorithms require. ExeQuantum's Jasmin/C hybrid architecture addresses this by enforcing formal verification at the assembly level.
Regulatory convergence. NIST, NSA (CNSA 2.0), ASD ISM, India's DST National Quantum Mission, Canada's CCSPA, NACSA, and Korea's own MSIT/KISA programmes are all converging on the same timeline. This is not one country acting alone. Every major economy is moving simultaneously.
ExeQuantum is an ISO 27001:2022 certified Australian post-quantum cryptography company that builds the EQCore Cryptographic Control Plane. The platform comprises CipherScout (automated cryptographic discovery across 10 attack surfaces, producing Cryptographic Bills of Materials in CycloneDX 1.7 format), CipherForge (a formally verified PQC implementation engine built on a Jasmin/C hybrid architecture), and CipherWatch (continuous compliance monitoring and reporting).
The company is listed in the Australian Government's Austrade Quantum Technology Capability Report and has been recognised in the Wavestone 2026 PQC Migration Solution Radar, the CIGI G7 Special Report on Quantum Technologies and Finance, and The Business Research Company's Quantum-Safe HSM Global Market Report. ExeQuantum's research team, led by CTO Dr. Kuo Zhao (former CSIRO Data61), has published peer-reviewed work with RMIT University on post-quantum API security.
ExeQuantum serves clients and partners across Australia, North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia.
Event details 2026 Quantum Nexus Conference Date: Friday, 4 September 2026 Venue: Westin Josun Hotel, Seoul, South Korea Host: Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST)
For enquiries, contact team@exequantum.com.