This page lists the internship projects currently available in the Center for Cybersecurity of Fondazione Bruno Kessler (FBK). Please note that these are curricular internship projects (which does not include financial compensation) intended specifically for bachelor’s and master’s university students, and not employment contracts. Please refer to jobs.fbk.eu/ for job offers and open positions.
Procedure
- Application: submit your application for the internship project you are interested in using the designated online form and providing the required information. Make sure to apply before the specified deadline. You are advised not to apply to more than two projects at the same time.
- Selection: project supervisors will review the applications and choose the most suitable candidate. If needed, they may request an oral interview during the selection process. Each project is evaluated independently.
- Results: once the selection process is complete, all applicants (both selected and not selected) will be notified of the outcome for the specific project.
For general inquiries, you can email internships-cs@fbk.eu. If you have specific questions about a project, please reach out to the project supervisor directly.
Please note that applications sent via email will not be considered.
Projects are listed starting with those that have the earliest submission deadlines.
Post-Quantum Byzantine Fault Tolerant Consensus Protocols ALEPH
ID: p-2026-aleph-1
Published on: Tuesday, 24 February 2026
Deadline for Applications: Tuesday, 24 March 2026 at 23:59
Description:
The advent of quantum computing poses a serious threat to classical public-key cryptography, including digital signature schemes that are a fundamental building block of modern Byzantine Fault Tolerant (BFT) consensus protocols. State-of-the-art BFT protocols, such as HotStuff and its derivatives, rely heavily on efficient digital signatures and quorum certificates to guarantee safety and liveness in adversarial settings.
Post-quantum signature schemes, while offering resistance against quantum adversaries, introduce significant challenges in terms of signature size, verification cost, and communication overhead, which may deeply impact the performance and scalability of consensus protocols.
This project aims to investigate the integration of post-quantum signature schemes into BFT consensus protocols. The work will start with a survey of existing post-quantum signature schemes and recent research on post-quantum secure consensus, highlighting different design approaches, including both direct replacement of classical signatures and protocol-level redesigns aimed at reducing or eliminating the reliance on signatures.
Building on this analysis, the student will study a state-of-the-art BFT protocol (e.g., HotStuff or related variants) and explore how post-quantum signatures can be incorporated, analyzing the resulting trade-offs in terms of security assumptions, communication complexity, and performance. Depending on time and interest, the work may include a prototype implementation and an experimental evaluation.
Type: Internship + Thesis
Level: MSc
Supervisors: Riccardo Longo (rlongo@fbk.eu), Alessandro Tomasi (altomasi@fbk.eu)
Prerequisites:
- Basic knowledge of cryptography (digital signatures, security models)
- Familiarity with distributed systems and consensus protocols
- Programming experience (e.g., C/C++, Rust, Go, or Python)
- Background in post-quantum cryptography or Byzantine consensus is a plus, but not strictly required
Objectives:
- Survey of post-quantum digital signature schemes and their properties
- Study of Byzantine Fault Tolerant consensus protocols and their cryptographic building blocks
- Analysis of the impact of post-quantum signatures on consensus efficiency and scalability
- Design and/or evaluation of a post-quantum-aware BFT consensus solution
Topics: Post-Quantum Cryptography, Byzantine Fault Tolerant Consensus, Distributed Systems, Blockchain Protocols
Notes: Work in collaboration with the division "research on advanced technologies" of the Bank of Italy.