[Sidrops] Master's thesis paper: PQC for the RPKI (and the"'null scheme")

[Job Snijders <[e-mail]>]

Dear working group,

I'd like to bring an interesting research paper to your attention:
"Post-Quantum Cryptography for the RPKI" authored by Dirk Doesburg.
The paper is attached to this message, a summary is available here:
https://www.sidnlabs.nl/en/news-and-blogs/thesis-pqc-for-the-rpki

I'm pleased to see more research has been conducted on the topic of
algorithm agility in the RPKI. To me the problem space isn't so much
about "which algorithm to pick next?", but rather "how do we ever go
about deploying any new algorithm?". This paper provides many helpful
insights.

The paper also challenges the RPKI's current approach to signature
placement. The author argues there may be an unnecessary repetition in
the construction of Signed Objects, that a certain process step can
perhaps be fully subsumed in another feature and in doing so offset the
cost of a more resource intensive signature scheme (which most PQ
schemes are), or ... we just take the resulting shrinkage as a win. :)

However, this proposed "null scheme" currently is entirely theoretical
in nature: as of yet no test objects have been generated. As I'm very
interested in the RPKI's performance, I'd love to contribute to a
proof-of-concept to better understand the feasability of the proposed
approach and any potential trade-offs. The claims on robustness and
security properties will of course need to be verified and
triple-checked. Stay tuned for future updates.

Thank you Dirk for sharing your work with the world!

Kind regards,

Job