Mixing Preshared Keys in IKEv2 for Post-quantum Security

Valery Smyslov, Panos Kampanakis, Scott R. Fluhrer, David A. McGrew

Published Jan 14, 2020• 3 citations

Abstract

The possibility of quantum computers poses a serious challenge to cryptographic algorithms deployed widely today. IKEv2 is one example of a cryptosystem that could be broken; someone storing VPN communications today could decrypt them at a later time when a quantum computer is available. It is anticipated that IKEv2 will be extended to support quantum-secure key exchange algorithms; however that is not likely to happen in the near term. To address this problem before then, this document describes an extension of IKEv2 to allow it to be resistant to a quantum computer, by using preshared keys.

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