Unmatched Cryptographic Subject Matter Expertise

Dr. Vladimir Soukharev
VP of Cryptographic Research and Development

Vladimir Soukharev is the Chief Cryptographic Technologist at Keyfactor. He is relentlessly focused on cryptographic research and development and is inspired by continuous innovation. Vladimir obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Waterloo’s David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science, specializing in cryptography, security and privacy under the supervision of David Jao. His thesis title was “Post-Quantum Elliptic Curve Cryptography.”

He was part of the Centre for Applied Cryptographic Research, CryptoWorks21 and has contributed and published works at world-renowned conferences and in journals, such as PQCrypto, Financial Cryptography and the Journal of Mathematical Cryptology. Since completing his formal studies, he has dedicated his work life to advancing the knowledge and application of cutting-edge cryptography and cybersecurity technologies to protect vital information and communications in complex, highly regulated environments.

Vladimir’s main area of focus is post-quantum cryptography, but he looks at the entire cryptographic and security spectrum. He co-authored SLH-DSA, a NIST-standardized post-quantum digital signature algorithm specified in FIPS 205. This hash-based cryptographic method offers quantum-resistant security for digital signatures.

Dr. Karan Khathuria
Senior Cryptographer R&D Scientist

Dr. Karan Khathuria is a Senior Cryptographer R&D Scientist at Keyfactor. He has a profound focus on cryptographic research and development, inspired by addressing real-world cryptographic challenges. Karan earned his Ph.D. in Mathematics from the University of Zurich, specializing in the algebraic study of asymmetric cryptosystems.

Karan brings extensive experience in post-quantum cryptography, combining deep industry knowledge with a strong academic research background. His expertise includes:

Karan previously held senior positions at Quantinuum and pursued postdoctoral research at the University of Tartu. At Quantinuum, he was the research lead for developing and testing hybrid classical-quantum cryptographic protocols such as Quantum FHE, and also worked on methods for error correction in quantum key distribution algorithms. During his postdoctoral research at the University of Tartu, he focused on improving the efficiency of lattice-based encryption schemes and the algebraic modeling of distributed data storage. Browse Karan’s publications here.

Since completing his formal studies, Karan has dedicated his career to advancing the security of digital systems in the era of quantum computing.

Victoria de Quehen
Cryptographer

‍Victoria de Quehen is a Cryptographer at Keyfactor in Toronto. Her educational background includes an undergraduate degree in math from Queen’s University and a Master’s degree in Number Theory from McGill University. Professionally, she is developing innovative expertise in the field of digital security, where for the past 6 years she has been applying her knowledge of elliptic curves, and math in general, to conduct new cryptographic research on post-quantum encryption. She is actively involved in the post-quantum research community, and organizes international research workshops.

‍Her main interest is in the optimization of post-quantum algorithms, with a special interested in hardware speed-ups, to improve security for information requiring long-term confidentiality.