NC-CIPSeR, Carleton University and 01 Quantum Launch Research Collaboration on AI Privacy and Data Security
NC-CIPSeR and Carleton University are collaborating with 01 Quantum Inc. on a new research initiative to examine privacy and data-security vulnerabilities in modern artificial intelligence systems and evaluate technologies designed to mitigate them.
AI systems are increasingly being deployed across financial services, government operations, critical infrastructure and national-security environments. As multiple AI agents exchange and process information, sensitive data may be exposed in ways that organizations do not fully understand.
The project will simulate a realistic financial-institution environment in which multiple AI agents support activities such as fraud detection and customer-risk assessment. Researchers will stress-test the environment to identify potential vulnerabilities and quantify how sensitive information may be exposed.
A key area of study will be “membership inference”- a method through which an outside party may statistically determine whether a particular record was included in an AI model’s training data. This type of exposure could present significant privacy and security concerns for financial institutions, governments, critical-infrastructure operators and defence organizations.
The first phase will measure data leakage within a standard, non-encrypted AI environment. A later phase will test an encryption-compatible model component and assess the ability of privacy-preserving technologies, including fully homomorphic encryption, to protect information while it is being processed.
“This project allows us to study real-world security and privacy challenges in technologies being deployed by critical infrastructure in Canada right now,” said Adjunct Research Professor Perry Steckly, Principal Investigator at Carleton University (NPSIA) and Executive Director of NC-CIPSeR. “By quantifying the vulnerabilities in modern AI models, we can help institutions understand the risks and evaluate technologies designed to mitigate them.”
The collaboration combines Carleton University’s research capabilities, NC-CIPSeR’s multidisciplinary work across critical infrastructure, emergency management, national security and defence, and 01 Quantum’s expertise in post-quantum cryptography and privacy-preserving technologies.
In addition to supporting independent research, the initiative will help validate the practical and commercial potential of encrypted AI technologies in realistic, security-sensitive environments.
This work contributes to a broader Canadian need to ensure that emerging AI technologies are secure, resilient and suitable for deployment in critical and sensitive systems.
Learn more: Read the full joint announcement or explore NC-CIPSeR’s further work on AI, cybersecurity and critical-infrastructure resilience.
Image: AI-generated with ChatGPT by OpenAI for NC-CIPSeR, 2026.