The quantum communication technology is an evolving design which connects multiple quantum enabled devices to internet for secret communication or sensitive information exchange. In future, the number of these compact quantum enabled devices will increase immensely making them an integral part of present communication systems. Therefore, safety and security of such devices is also a major concern for us. To ensure the customer sensitive information will not be eavesdropped or deciphered, we need a strong authentications and encryption mechanism. In this paper, we propose a mutual authentication scheme between these smart quantum devices and server based on the secure exchange of information through quantum channel which gives better solutions for symmetric key exchange issues. An important part of this work is to propose a secure mutual authentication protocol over the quantum channel. We show that our approach offers robust authentication protocol and further our solution is lightweight, scalable, cost-effective with optimized computational processing overheads.
The quantum communication technology is an evolving design which connects multiple quantum enabled devices to internet for secret communication or sensitive information exchange. In future, the number of these compact quantum enabled devices will increase immensely making them an integral part of present communication systems. Therefore, safety and security of such devices is also a major concern for us. To ensure the customer sensitive information will not be eavesdropped or deciphered, we need a strong authentications and encryption mechanism. In this paper, we propose a mutual authentication scheme between these smart quantum devices and server based on the secure exchange of information through quantum channel which gives better solutions for symmetric key exchange issues. An important part of this work is to propose a secure mutual authentication protocol over the quantum channel. We show that our approach offers robust authentication protocol and further our solution is lightweight, scalable, cost-effective with optimized computational processing overheads.
The rapid expansion of Internet of Things (IoT) ecosystems has introduced significant security challenges due to resource-constrained devices, heterogeneous network architectures, and largescale connectivity. Traditional authentication and key exchange mechanisms, primarily based on classical cryptographic algorithms such as RSA and ECC, are vulnerable to future quantum computing attacks. The emergence of quantum algorithms, particularly Shor’s algorithm, threatens the long-term confidentiality and integrity of IoT communications. This paper proposes a Quantum-Resistant Authentication and Key Exchange Protocol specifically designed for secure IoT architectures. The proposed framework integrates post-quantum cryptographic primitives, including lattice-based key exchange mechanisms and hash-based authentication schemes, optimized for low computational overhead suitable for constrained IoT devices. The protocol ensures mutual authentication, forward secrecy, and resistance against quantum adversaries while maintaining minimal communication latency. Security analysis demonstrates robustness against replay, man-in-the-middle, and key-compromise attacks. Performance evaluation shows that the proposed solution achieves a balance between quantum security strength and resource efficiency, making it suitable for next-generation IoT deployments in smart cities, healthcare systems, and industrial automation.
Authentication key exchange protocols enable communication entities to agree on a shared secret value over an insecure public channel. Conventional authentication key exchange protocols rely on mathematical problems that can be broken by Shor's algorithm executed on a quantum computer. This study proposes a quantum-safe authentication protocol that uses the CRYSTALS-Kyber post-quantum cryptographic primitive and Elliptic-Curve Cryptography. The primary application area of the proposed scheme is smart-city infrastructures and resource-constrained environments. This protocol is motivated by the scheme of Parameswarath et al. Their solution lacks perfect forward secrecy and protection against denial-of-service attacks, and it is practically infeasible. The proposed scheme addresses those limitations. The scheme presented in this study was analyzed in the Real-or-Random formal security model. Additionally, the formal security verifier ProVerif was used to verify security properties, including message integrity, strong authentication, and session key secrecy. Moreover, this document includes an informal security analysis that demonstrates a wide range of security features. This study also contains a performance analysis of the proposed scheme along with other recently published schemes. The total computation costs at the IoT device and the Cloud Server are 0.2014 and 0.216 milliseconds, respectively. The storage cost for both the IoT device and the Cloud Server is 2545 bytes. The total communication cost for authentication messages is 1687 bytes. Finally, the presented protocol was simulated using the NS3 network simulator. The measured values for Packet Delivery Ratio, End-to-End delay, and Throughput in a scenario with 40 devices are 99.07\%, 3.54 ms, and 162.92 kbps, respectively.
As 6G networks are about to serve billions of devices, secure and reliable authentication is a key challenge. Conventional authentication solutions are under attack from both centralized and future quantum computing threats. This paper introduces a new authentication protocol that incorporates randomness generated by quantum mechanics and blockchain technology to achieve a lightweight, decentralized, and post-quantum secure solution for 6G scenarios. Each device creates a truly random key from a Quantum Random Number Generator (QRNG), and this key is then securely stored on a blockchain in hashed form. When the device tries to join the network, its key is checked against the blockchain ledger to provide for one-time, tamper- evident authentication without the need for centralized servers. The protocol is designed to support smart contracts for expiry and revocation of keys, rendering it appropriate for dense and highly dynamic 6G networks. Our system provides increased security, immunity against future quantum attacks, and efficient scaling for IoT, healthcare, and autonomous communication systems.
The internet of things (IoT) and cloud computing are evolving technologies in the information technology field. Merging the pervasive IoT technology with cloud computing is an innovative solution for better analytics and decision-making. Deployed IoT devices offload different types of data to the cloud, while cloud computing converges the infrastructure, links up the servers, analyzes information obtained from the IoT devices, reinforces processing power, and offers huge storage capacity. However, this merging is prone to various cyber threats that affect the IoT-Cloud environment. Mutual authentication is considered as the forefront mechanism for cyber-attacks as the IoT-Cloud participants have to ensure the authenticity of each other and generate a session key for securing the exchanged traffic. While designing these mechanisms, the constrained nature of the IoT devices must be taken into consideration. We proposed a novel lightweight protocol (Light-AHAKA) for authenticating IoT-Cloud elements and establishing a key agreement for encrypting the exchanged sensitive data was proposed. In this paper, the formal verification of (Light-AHAKA) was presented to prove and verify the correctness of our proposed protocol to ensure that the protocol is free from design flaws before the deployment phase. The verification is performed based on two different approaches, the strand space model and the automated validation of internet security protocols and applications (AVISPA) tool.
Authentication is one of the security services that ensures sufficient security of the system by identification and verification. Also, it assures the identity of the communicating party to be that the claimed one. To build a quantum channel between two unauthenticated to each other parties, first, a trusted authority is needed to establish a mutual authentication with each party. Using Bell measurement and entanglement swapping, we present a protocol that mutually authenticates the identity of the sender and the receiver, then constructs a quantum channel based on Bell basis. After, the sender and the receiver use the quantum channel to communicate using entanglement-assisted quantum communication protocols. Additionally, the protocol renews the shared secret key between the trusted authority and each user after each authentication process. The protocol provides the necessary authentication and key distribution to create a quantum channel between the sender and receiver.
Post Quantum Key Encapsulation Mechanism (PKEM) is used to securely exchange symmetric keys over an insecure channel. It allows two parties to establish a shared secret key, which can then be used for symmetric encryption, ensuring confidentiality against quantum attacks. By encapsulating the key, it reduces the need to directly encrypt large amounts of data with the public key, which is computationally expensive. Traditional cryptographic tools, while effective, are complex and susceptible to quantum attacks. This paper contains a robust and lightweight post-quantum security solution, and their performance analysis. The authentication scheme, based on Ring-Learning with Errors (Ring-LWE), uses Bernstein reconstruction in polynomial multiplication to significantly lower computational costs, enabling even resource-limited mobile devices to achieve secure mutual authentication. This paper also contains an analysis of post-quantum key encapsulation mechanism (PKEM), and it also covers design, security, and real-world implementation issues and provides a prospective outlook on PKEM, taking into account current investigations, possible innovations, and the changing field of quantum computing. The proposed work also offers a thorough investigation of the security features of post-quantum KEMs, together with theoretical and practical concerns.