Cybersecurity R&D at Denovo: from Italy to Europe

Cybersecurity is the only one of Denovo’s four R&D streams that we run under industrial secrecy. We work from Terni on hardware devices, post-quantum cryptography (PQC, also called quantum-resistant cryptography) and Zero Trust architectures, for companies and public bodies across Central Italy and the European single market. Our goal is to prepare infrastructure, products and supply chains for the post-quantum era, when large-scale quantum computers will be able to break the cryptographic schemes still considered standard today.

What post-quantum cryptography is

Post-quantum cryptography (PQC), also called quantum-resistant cryptography, is the set of algorithms designed to withstand attacks from a large-scale quantum computer. Families include lattice-based, hash-based, code-based and multivariate schemes, several of which are being standardised by NIST. The quantum threat is not purely theoretical: the harvest now, decrypt later scenario describes an attacker collecting today’s classically encrypted traffic to decrypt it later, in the quantum era, once sufficient quantum hardware becomes available.

At Denovo we work both on the algorithmic side (post-quantum primitives and hybrid classical/post-quantum migration) and on the hardware side, which is the natural setting in which quantum-resistant security needs to be implemented to guarantee performance, isolation and auditability.

Where our projects go

Projects without confidentiality constraints become public after an initial lab phase. The others are filed with the Italian National Cybersecurity Agency (ACN), which assesses the technical side and the technological sovereignty angle.

This dual track lets us work both on commercial products and on components that feed into Italian strategic supply chains.

Confundus: our first public project

Confundus (opens in a new tab) is a post-quantum hardware security device currently under development. It is the first initiative from our cybersecurity area that we made public, with a dedicated landing page online since 3 December 2025.

Architecture in short:

• a physical appliance that isolates cryptographic operations from the rest of the infrastructure;
• post-quantum (quantum-resistant) algorithms that protect sensitive flows from both classical and quantum attacks;
• integration with existing networks without requiring application rewrites;
• over-the-air cryptographic updates and continuous threat monitoring.

Read the launch announcement on the blog for the technical detail and the project context.

How we work

The team combines applied cryptography (including post-quantum cryptography), hardware engineering, firmware development and security auditing. We do not resell third-party solutions: we design and build from scratch, with the same “de novo” approach we apply to our other R&D lines (artificial intelligence, mechatronics, blockchain).

Our operations are based in Terni, in the heart of Umbria. As an Italian innovative startup, we work across the entire EU plus Switzerland.

Who reaches out to us

• companies that need to prepare their cryptographic infrastructure for the post-quantum transition;
• public bodies looking for hardware components with Italian sovereignty, ready for the quantum era;
• integrators and system partners looking for an Italian partner with vertical expertise in security and post-quantum cryptography.

To discuss your case, reach us through the contact page. For the full detail of our flagship device, visit confundus.it (opens in a new tab).