Introduction to public-channel cryptography

Margaret B. Cozzens, Steven Miller

Johannes A Buchmann, Kristin Lauter, Michele Mosca

This is part 2 of IEEE Security & Privacy magazine’s special issue on Postquantum Cryptography. As explained in the introduction to part 1, public-key cryptography is indispensable for the security of open computer networks, particularly the Internet. Because of public-key cryptography’s relevance and quantum computers’ increasingly realistic threat to this technology, it’s necessary to come up with practical and secure postquantum cryptography—that is, public-key cryptography that can be expected to resist quantum computer attacks.

Shuhab Shamshad, Farina Riaz, Rabia Riaz +2 more

The Internet of Things (IoT) strongly influences the world economy; this emphasizes the importance of securing all four aspects of the IoT model: sensors, networks, cloud, and applications. Considering the significant value of public-key cryptography threats on IoT system confidentiality, it is vital to secure it. One of the potential candidates to assist in securing public key cryptography in IoT is quantum computing. Although the notion of IoT and quantum computing convergence is not new, it has been referenced in various works of literature and covered by many scholars. Quantum computing eliminates most of the challenges in IoT. This research provides a comprehensive introduction to the Internet of Things and quantum computing before moving on to public-key cryptography difficulties that may be encountered across the convergence of quantum computing and IoT. An enhanced architecture is then proposed for resolving these public-key cryptography challenges using SimuloQron to implement the BB84 protocol for quantum key distribution (QKD) and one-time pad (OTP). The proposed model prevents eavesdroppers from performing destructive operations in the communication channel and cyber side by preserving its state and protecting the public key using quantum cryptography and the BB84 protocol. A modified version is introduced for this IoT situation. A traditional cryptographic mechanism called "one-time pad" (OTP) is employed in hybrid management.

Ling Dong, Kefei Chen

Ling Dong, Kefei Chen

S. Rajasekar, R. Velusamy

Quantum cryptography lies at the intersection of information theory and quantum mechanics. Cryptosystems come in two major classes depending on whether the key is shared in public or in secret. Public key cryptosystems are special in that they allow two people, who have not yet met, to communicate securely by looking-up encryption methods in a public directory. In quantum cryptography, the sender and receiver have two types of communication channels: a classical public channel and a quantum channel. The best application of cryptography is to allow a secure communication. In the near future, quantum cryptography may be used in top-secret applications in the military, for example, as the basis of communication links. The first protocol for quantum cryptography was proposed in 1984 by C. H. Bennett and G. Brassard. Some of the basic quantum cryptographic systems are: four-states protocol, two-states protocol, 4+2 protocol and multi-photon and multi-stage protocol.