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Euromicro Conference on Digital System Design (DSD)

Hybrid Post-Quantum Enhanced TLS 1.3 on Embedded Devices

Dominik Marchsreiter, Johanna Sepúlveda

Published Aug 1, 2022• 22 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Most of todays Internet connections are protected through the Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocol. Its client-server handshake mechanism provides authentication, privacy and data integrity between communicating applications. It is also the security base for the 5G connectivity. While currently considered secure, the dawn of quantum computing represents a threat for TLS. In order to prepare for such an event, TLS must integrate quantum-secure (post-quantum) cryptography (PQC). The use of hybrid approaches, that combines PQC and traditional cryptography are recommended by security agencies. Efficient PQC integration at TLS requires the exploration of a wide set of design parameters and platforms. To this end this work presents the following contributions. First, wide evaluation of PQC-enhanced TLS hybrid protocols, using end-to-end communication latency as metric. Second, the exploration and benchmarking in constrained embedded devices. Third, a wide traffic analysis, including the impact and behavior of PQC-enhanced hybrid TLS in real practical scenarios.

DOI
10.1109/dsd57027.2022.00127

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Most of todays Internet connections are protected through the Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocol. Its client-server handshake mechanism provides authentication, privacy and data integrity between communicating applications. It is also the security base for the 5G connectivity. While currently considered secure, the dawn of quantum computing represents a threat for TLS. In order to prepare for such an event, TLS must integrate quantum-secure (post-quantum) cryptography (PQC). The use of hybrid approaches, that combines PQC and traditional cryptography are recommended by security agencies. Efficient PQC integration at TLS requires the exploration of a wide set of design parameters and platforms. To this end this work presents the following contributions. First, wide evaluation of PQC-enhanced TLS hybrid protocols, using end-to-end communication latency as metric. Second, the exploration and benchmarking in constrained embedded devices. Third, a wide traffic analysis, including the impact and behavior of PQC-enhanced hybrid TLS in real practical scenarios.
The emergence of quantum computing presents a significant threat to classical cryptographic primitives, particularly those employed in securing internet communications via widely used protocols such as Transport Layer Security (TLS). As conventional key exchange mechanisms will become increasingly vulnerable in the post-quantum era, the integration of post-quantum cryptographic (PQC) algorithms into existing security protocols is of utmost importance. This study investigates the impact of incorporating PQC key encapsulation mechanisms—specifically, the recent standards CRYSTALS-Kyber and HQC, in conjunction with the candidate standard BIKE—into the TLS 1.3 handshake. A comprehensive experimental evaluation was conducted to measure handshake latency under emulated network conditions with varying packet loss probabilities. The findings offer useful insights into the performance trade-offs introduced by PQC integration and further highlight the necessity of a timely transition to post-quantum cryptographic standards.
Advances in quantum computing pose a significant threat to the widely used Public Key Infrastructure (PKI). The two leading technologies to address this challenge are Post-Quantum Cryptography and Quantum Key Distribution. A promising approach is the hybridization of these technologies - combining their respective strengths while mitigating their limitations - and integrating them with the cryptographic mechanisms used today to enhance crypto-agility and facilitate transitioning to a quantum-safe infrastructure. However, changing current network protocols to quantum-safe alternatives is not just a matter of security: their efficiency and scalability must also be demonstrated within real-world telecommunications infrastructures to ensure their practical adoption. In this work, we present the first long-running test with detailed measurements of a suite of hybrid quantum-safe protocols that integrate classical cryptography, PQC, and QKD within a production environment (MadQCI). Using standardized protocols and interfaces and employing Transport Layer Security (TLS) as the base protocol for real-world comparison, this study demonstrates the efficiency and scalability of the proposed solution in deployed heterogeneous networks. These results mark a significant step towards the widespread adoption of quantum-safe hybrid protocols and contribute to clarifying the path toward their future standardization in next-generation telecommunications networks.
The emergence of large-scale quantum computers poses a significant threat to current cryptographic protocols, particularly Transport Layer Security (TLS), which relies on RSA and elliptic curve cryptography vulnerable to Shor's algorithm. This paper presents a hybrid framework for quantum-resistant TLS handshakes that integrates post-quantum cryptography (PQC), quantum key distribution (QKD) and classical cryptography to provide comprehensive protection against both classical and quantum attacks. The approach employs three QKD protocols; BB84, E91, and Measurement-Device-Independent QKD (MDI-QKD) alongside NIST-standardized PQC algorithms as well as alternative candidates such as HQC and BIKE. A key innovation is the QKD key management module, which addresses performance bottlenecks through periodic key generation and secure reuse within predefined retention periods, significantly reducing QKD overhead in TLS handshakes. The experimental implementation using the quantum network simulator evaluated 144 distinct cryptographic protocol combinations. Results demonstrate that ML-KEM combined with ML-DSA provides optimal PQC performance, while QKD protocol selection is distance-dependent: BB84 for short-range and MDI-QKD for long-distance communication. The framework includes various attack mitigation mechanisms and ensure security as long as at least one cryptographic method remains uncompromised. Consistent with current global quantum network usage, the proposed TLS approach is designed primarily for MAN and WAN environments rather than the Internet, providing a balanced solution that combines theoretical security guarantees with computational efficiency.
Abstract Advances in quantum computing pose a significant threat to the widely used Public Key Infrastructure (PKI). The two leading technologies to address this challenge are Post-Quantum Cryptography and Quantum Key Distribution. A promising approach is the hybridization of these technologies - combining their respective strengths while mitigating their limitations - and integrating them with the cryptographic mechanisms used today to enhance crypto-agility and facilitate transitioning to a quantum-safe infrastructure. However, changing current network protocols to quantum-safe alternatives is not just a matter of security: their efficiency and scalability must also be demonstrated within real-world telecommunications infrastructures to ensure their practical adoption. In this work, we present the first long-running test with detailed measurements of a suite of hybrid quantum-safe protocols that integrate classical cryptography, PQC, and QKD within a production environment (MadQCI). Using standardized protocols and interfaces and employing Transport Layer Security (TLS) as the base protocol for real-world comparison, this study demonstrates the efficiency and scalability of the proposed solution in deployed heterogeneous networks. These results mark a significant step towards the widespread adoption of quantum-safe hybrid protocols and contribute to clarifying the path toward their future standardization in next-generation telecommunications networks.
The digital age has ushered in a dependency on secure communication and data protection. Every day, vastamounts of sensitive information—ranging from personal data and financial transactions to governmentcommunications—are exchanged over networks. This security is largely ensured through modern cryptographicalgorithms that protect confidentiality, integrity, and authenticity. However, the emergence of quantumcomputing poses a significant threat to these systems, potentially rendering many classical cryptographictechniques obsolete. Quantum computers, leveraging the principles of quantum mechanics, have the theoreticalability to perform complex computations exponentially faster than classical computers. With the development ofquantum algorithms such as Shor’s algorithm and Grover’s algorithm, it becomes evident that once large-scalequantum computers become a reality, widely-used encryption schemes such as RSA, Elliptic CurveCryptography (ECC), and Diffie-Hellman may no longer be secure. Quantum-resistant cryptography, alsoknown as post-quantum cryptography, aims to develop cryptographic algorithms that are secure against bothclassical and quantum attacks. This project focuses on the study and analysis of quantum-resistant cryptographicalgorithms and presents the design, implementation, and evaluation of a Hybrid Post-Quantum TLS (PQ-TLS)framework. Experimental results demonstrate that the hybrid approach maintains efficient performance withsub-4-second response latencies and 100% data fidelity during encrypted transmission.
The threat of a cryptographically relevant quantum computer contributes to an increasing interest in the field of post-quantum cryptography (PQC). Compared to existing research efforts regarding the integration of PQC into the Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocol, industrial communication protocols have so far been neglected. Since industrial cyber-physical systems (CPS) are typically deployed for decades, protection against such long-term threats is needed. In this work, we propose two novel solutions for the integration of post-quantum (PQ) primitives (digital signatures and key establishment) into the industrial protocol Open Platform Communications Unified Architecture (OPC UA): a hybrid solution combining conventional cryptography with PQC and a solution solely based on PQC. Both approaches provide mutual authentication between client and server and are realized with certificates fully compliant to the X.509 standard. We implement the two solutions and measure and evaluate their performance across three different security levels. All selected algorithms (Kyber, Dilithium, and Falcon) are candidates for standardization by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). We show that Falcon is a suitable option – especially – when using floating-point hardware provided by our ARM-based evaluation platform. Our proposed hybrid solution provides PQ security for early adopters but comes with additional performance and communication requirements. Our solution solely based on PQC shows superior performance across all evaluated security levels in terms of handshake duration compared to conventional OPC UA but comes at the cost of increased handshake sizes. In addition to our performance evaluation, we provide a proof of security in the symbolic model for our two PQC-based variants of OPC UA. For this proof, we use the cryptographic protocol verifier ProVerif and formally verify confidentiality and authentication properties of our quantum-resistant variants.