Doktor ingeniør, professor at the Department of Theoretical Physics and Quantum Technologies, head at the Laboratory of Analysis of Practical Vulnerabilities of Quantum Cryptography Systems and Development of Certification Methods of the Quantum Communications Competence Center of NTI.
Research interests
Quantum cryptography.
Field of knowledge according to the OECD classifier
Physical sciences.
Doktor ingeniør, professor at the Department of Theoretical Physics and Quantum Technologies, head at the Laboratory of Analysis of Practical Vulnerabilities of Quantum Cryptography Systems and Development of Certification Methods
2019 — present: professor at the Department of Theoretical Physics and Quantum Technologies at the National University of Science and Technology NUST MISIS.
2019 — present: academic group supervisor at the Russian Quantum Center, head of the quantum hacking lab.
2018: visiting professor at the Shanghai Institute for Advanced Studies, University of Science and Technology of China.
February 2012 — January 2017: member of the Institute for Quantum Computing, University of Waterloo (Canada).
Main results of scientific work
Professor Makarov has spent the last 14 years inventing and testing new hacking methods, culminating in the development of the first 100%-efficient attack on commercial quantum cryptosystems in 2010, and demonstration of the first complete eavesdropping on a running quantum cryptography link in 2011. Vadim has introduced the practice of responsible disclosure in the quantum information industry, providing vendors with advanced information on security loopholes in their products.
Recent work in Makarov’s lab has probed physical limits of communication security, demonstrating a laser-damaged attack against quantum communication systems. His lab has explored several other types of device imperfections leading to security issues in quantum communication protocols. His lab has also contributed to demonstrations of long-distance free-space quantum communications (led by A. Zeilinger). Radiation-hardened single-photon detectors for space applications were developed. The Canadian quantum satellite was developed, and the air-borne quantum key distribution (QKD) was demonstrated (led by T. Jennewein). In addition, laboratory members worked in the European proposal for testing quantum gravity theories (led by the Space-QUEST consortium).
The Laboratory of Analysis of Practical Vulnerabilities of Quantum Cryptography Systems and Development of Certification Methods continues testing commercial QKD systems in close cooperation with the manufacturers, helping them to patch loopholes by revealing security challenges the industry faces and to highlight the lack of implementation standards. In
The laboratory is engaged in 10 research collaborations.
Scopus Hirsch Index — 27.
Number of articles on Scopus — 88.
Scopus AuthorID: 7401690380.
Significant research projects, grants
- “Security analysis of long-distance quantum communications”. Russian Science Foundation and the National Natural Science Foundation of China,
2021-2023. - Combined funding generated by the operating fund of the Russian Quantum Center and Autonomous Non-Profit Organization NTI Platform for the NUST MISIS Center for Quantum Communications,
2018-2022. - “Security of quantum communications against hacking attacks”, Ontario MRI Early Researcher Award,
2015-2019. - Quantum hacking lab, NSERC Discovery,
2014-2019. - “High-speed oscilloscope for next-generation quantum information processing and communication”, NSERC RTI, 2015.
- Internal startup at the Institute for Quantum Computing,
2012-2016.
Significant publications
- S. Sajeed, P. Chaiwongkhot, A. Huang, H. Qin, V. Egorov, A. Kozubov, A. Gaidash, V. Chistiakov, A. Vasiliev, A. Gleim, and V. Makarov, An approach for security evaluation and certification of a complete quantum communication system, arXiv:1909.07898;
- A. Huang, Á. Navarrete, S.-H. Sun, P. Chaiwongkhot, M. Curty, and V. Makarov, Laser-seeding attack in quantum key distribution, Phys. Rev. Appl. 12, 064043 (2019);
- P. Chaiwongkhot, K. B. Kuntz, Y. Zhang, A. Huang, J.-P. Bourgoin, S. Sajeed, N. Lütken-haus, T. Jennewein, and V. Makarov, Eavesdropper’s ability to attack a free-space quantum-key-distribution receiver in atmos-pheric turbulence, Phys. Rev. A 99, 062315 (2019);
- J. G. Lim, E. Anisimova, B. L. Higgins, J.-P. Bourgoin, T. Jennewein, and V. Makarov, Laser annealing heals radiation damage in avalanche photodiodes, EPJ Quantum Technol. 4, 11 (2017);
- S. Sajeed, A. Huang, S. Sun, F. Xu, V. Makarov, and M. Curty, Insecurity of detector-device-independent quantum key distribution, Phys. Rev. Lett. 117, 250505 (2016);
- V. Makarov, J.-P. Bourgoin, P. Chaiwongkhot, M. Gagné, T. Jennewein, S. Kaiser, R. Kashyap, M. Legré, C. Minshull, and S. Sajeed, Creation of backdoors in quantum communications via laser damage, Phys. Rev. A 94, 030302 (2016);
- X. S. Ma, T. Herbst, T. Scheidl, D. Wang, S. Kropatschek, W. Naylor, B. Wittmann, A. Mech, J. Kofler, E. Anisimova, V. Makarov, T. Jennewein, R. Ursin, and A. Zeilinger, Quantum teleportation over 143 kilometres using active feed-forward, Nature 489, 269 (2012);
- I. Gerhardt, Q. Liu, A. Lamas-Linares, J. Skaar, C. Kurtsiefer, and V. Makarov, Full-field implementation of a perfect eavesdropper on a quantum cryptography system, Nat. Commun. 2, 349 (2011);
- L. Lydersen, C. Wiechers, C. Wittmann, D. Elser, J. Skaar, and V. Makarov, Hacking commercial quantum cryptography systems by tailored bright illumination, Nat. Photonics 4, 686 (2010);
- reply to a comment: ibid. 4, 801 (2010);
- V. Makarov, A. Anisimov, and J. Skaar, Effects of detector efficiency mismatch on security of quantum cryptosystems, Phys. Rev. A 74, 022313 (2006);
- erratum: ibid. 78, 019905 (2008).
Scientific supervision and teaching
Professor Makarov has released two PhD and 2 MSc students (at the University of Waterloo). Both PhD graduates received recognition for the quality of their research, placing them in the top 15% of their cohort of graduates: A. Huang got an outstanding RBC thesis award in cybersecurity in the quantum era in 2019, and S. Sajeed got an IQC Achievement Award in 2017.
During his career, Makarov has supervised 14 undergraduate students and junior researchers, 3 MSc, 5 PhD students (including the above graduates) and 3 postdocs. He has also co-supervised 11 MSc and 2 PhD students. List of completed theses.
PhD student L. Lydersen whom Vadim co-supervised at NTNU received the ExxonMobil Research Prize in 2012, placing him in the very selective top 0.5% of the cohort.
Teaching
Since 2019, Makarov has been lecturing a new MSc-level quantum communications course and a new experimental lab course in quantum photonics and cryptography at the Moscow institute for Pysics and Tchnology and NUST MISIS.
He has delivered about 25 short
Vadim Makarov co-authored a chapter in a graduate-level textbook (A Multidisciplinary Introduction to Information Security, S. F. Mjølsnes, ed., CRC Press, 2011).
Scientific and social activities
He was an invited external thesis examiner for 2 PhD students, internal committee member of 2 PhD and 2 MSc students. He referees about 10 journal papers and one funding application per year.
Organization of conferences: QCrypt 2013, Waterloo, Canada, 170 participants.
Member of program committees:
- ICQT 2019, 21;
- QCrypt 2020;
- QTech 2018;
- SPIE Security + Defense
2012–2019 annually; - IQC QKD graduate summer school 2013, 17.
Journal editor’s highlights: cover of Phys. Rev. Lett. and Physics Synopsys (Laser damage helps the eaves-dropper in quantum cryptography, 2014).
Publications in the media
List of publications
