The development of large quantum computers will have dire consequences for cryptography. Most of the symmetric and asymmetric cryptographic algorithms are vulnerable to quantum algorithms. Grover’s search algorithm gives a square root time boost for the searching of the key in symmetric schemes like AES and 3DES. The security of asymmetric algorithms like RSA, Diffie Hellman, and ECC is based on the mathematical hardness of prime factorization and discrete logarithms. The best classical algorithms available take exponential time. Shor’s factoring algorithm can solve the problems in polynomial time. Major breakthroughs in quantum computing will render all the present-day widely used asymmetric cryptosystems insecure. This paper analyzes the vulnerability of the classical cryptosystems in the context of quantum computers, discusses various post-quantum cryptosystem families, discusses the status of the NIST post-quantum cryptography standardization process, provides a performance comparison of post-quantum cryptography (PQC) algorithms on different platforms, and finally provides a couple of future research directions in this field.
The development of large quantum computers will have dire consequences for cryptography. Most of the symmetric and asymmetric cryptographic algorithms are vulnerable to quantum algorithms. Grover’s search algorithm gives a square root time boost for the searching of the key in symmetric schemes like AES and 3DES. The security of asymmetric algorithms like RSA, Diffie Hellman, and ECC is based on the mathematical hardness of prime factorization and discrete logarithms. The best classical algorithms available take exponential time. Shor’s factoring algorithm can solve the problems in polynomial time. Major breakthroughs in quantum computing will render all the present-day widely used asymmetric cryptosystems insecure. This paper analyzes the vulnerability of the classical cryptosystems in the context of quantum computers, discusses various post-quantum cryptosystem families, discusses the status of the NIST post-quantum cryptography standardization process, provides a performance comparison of post-quantum cryptography (PQC) algorithms on different platforms, and finally provides a couple of future research directions in this field.
The development of large quantum computers will have dire consequences for cryptography. Most of the symmetric and asymmetric cryptographic algorithms are vulnerable to quantum algorithms. Grover's search algorithm gives a square root time boost for the searching of the key in symmetric schemes like AES and 3DES. The security of asymmetric algorithms like RSA, Diffie Hellman, and ECC is based on the mathematical hardness of prime factorization and discrete logarithm. The best classical algorithms available take exponential time. Shor's factoring algorithm can solve the problems in polynomial time. Major breakthroughs in quantum computing will render all the present-day widely used asymmetric cryptosystems insecure. This paper analyzes the vulnerability of the classical cryptosystems in the context of quantum computers discusses various post-quantum cryptosystem families, discusses the status of the NIST post-quantum cryptography standardization process, and finally provides a couple of future research directions in this field.
The advent of quantum computing poses an existential threat to classical cryptographic systems. Shor’s algorithm (1994) can factor large integers and compute discrete logarithms in polynomial time, breaking widely used schemes like RSA, ECC, and Diffie-Hellman. This paper surveys the state-of-the-art in quantum cryptanalysis, examining its impact on symmetric and asymmetric cryptography, recent progress in quantum attacks, and defenses via post-quantum cryptography (PQC). We analyze key quantum algorithms (Shor’s, Grover’s), their real-world feasibility given current hardware (NISQ-era limitations), and emerging PQC standards (NIST’s CRYSTALS-Kyber, Dilithium). We also discuss novel attack vectors (e.g., hybrid quantum-classical cryptanalysis) and future research directions.
The rapid growth of quantum computing poses a critical threat to classical cryptographic systems. That is due in large part to the fact that they represent efficient solutions for some of the most challenging mathematical problems such as integer factoring or finding discrete logarithms. Schemes currently in wide use including RSA, Diffie–Hellman, and elliptic curve cryptography are particularly susceptible to being attacked by quantum computers, using algorithms like Shor's Algorithm and Grover's Algorithm. The advent of post-quantum cryptography (PQC) provides a promising potential answer to providing longterm security from adversaries using quantum computing capabilities. This paper presents a comprehensive state-of-the-art review of various PQC techniques currently being researched, including lattice-based methods, code-based methods, multivariate methods, hash-based methods, and isogeny-based methods. key challenges that will need to be addressed include computational overhead, large key sizes and implementation complexity. Furthermore the study reviews the current standardization efforts by the National Institute of Standards and Technology related to PQC and discusses some of the very specific practical considerations that need to be considered before widely deploying these techniques. The paper concludes by a complete list of existing research challenges and proposed future work that will assist in the development of efficient and scalable systems that will resist attacks from quantum computers.
Quantum computing is a transformational technology once implemented, capable of addressing problems far beyond the capacity of classical computers. But this progress is also a real challenge to the core of today's modern security. Traditional cryptographic algorithms, such as those based on RSA, ECC, and Diffie-Hellman key exchange, are based on the computational hardness of problems such as prime factorization and discrete logarithms that quantum algorithms solve in polynomial time. As a particular research interesting example, with Shor's Algorithm one can factorize large numbers efficiently, rendering insecure the majority of public key cryptosystems used nowadays. This urgently demands a reevaluation of existing encryption schemes in the context of a post-quantum world. In this paper, we take a closer look at the threats that quantum computers pose to classical security infrastructure including encryption scheme and explore the impact that quantum computation can have on current cryptographic schemes. It calculates the cost in terms of symmetric and asymmetric security, accounting for effects of both Shor's and Grover's algorithms. Symmetric key systems such as AES are also harder hit—Grover's algorithm can give only a quadratic speedup here—but they do need to double key sizes for a sufficient level of post-quantum security. In reaction to those threats, the paper investigates nextgeneration post-quantum cryptographic (PQC) solutions resistant to quantum cryptanalysis. Lattice-based cryptosystems, hash-based signature schemes, multivariate polynomial systems, and code-based cryptosystems are some of the candidates that are being considered in international standardization work, including especially at NIST. In this paper, we compare those alternatives for security, performance, scalability, and feasibility of implementation in real system. An important aspect of this contribution is a comparative study of traditional and post-quantum cryptographic protocols in the context of a number of cybersecurity applications, including secure communications, blockchain networks and IoT contexts. It also covers the quantum readiness timeline and transitional issues, such as backward compatibility, standardization lag and the associated increased computational overhead. Through a mitigated risk evaluation and cryptanalytic attack simulation based on quantum-inspired algorithms, this analysis emphasizes the need to prepare ourselves against quantum-induced security issues. It provides strategic guidance to organizations as they plan for the post-quantum future, stressing cryptographic agility, hybrid encryption models and real-time threat monitoring. Ultimately, the results of this work add to the worldwide conversation on establishing secure systems within the digital age of quantum computing and recommend proactive migration plans for the integrity, confidentiality, and trust one should have in the future cyber world.
The advent of quantum computing poses a significant threat to current cryptographic systems, particularly public-key algorithms such as RSA and ECC, which are vulnerable to quantum attacks like Shor's algorithm. Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) aims to develop and standardize quantum-resistant cryptographic algorithms to secure digital communications in the quantum era. This paper examines the current landscape of PQC, focusing on the evaluation and standardization efforts led by organizations such as the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). We analyze the major families of quantum-resistant algorithms, including lattice-based, hash-based, code-based, multivariate, and isogeny-based cryptography, discussing their security guarantees, performance trade-offs, and implementation challenges. Furthermore, we review NIST's PQC standardization process, highlighting selected finalists and alternate candidates, and explore the ongoing transition challenges in adopting these algorithms across industries. Finally, we discuss future directions for PQC research, including hybrid cryptographic systems and the need for continued cryptanalysis to ensure long-term security. This work provides a comprehensive overview of the progress and challenges in deploying quantum-resistant cryptography to safeguard against emerging quantum threats.
Cryptography is an art of hiding the significant data or information with some other codes. It is a practice and study of securing information and communication. Thus, cryptography prevents third party intervention over the data communication. The cryptography technology transforms the data into some other form to enhance security and robustness against the attacks. The thrust of enhancing the security among data transfer has been emerged ever since the need of Artificial Intelligence field came into a market. Therefore, modern way of computing cryptographic algorithm came into practice such as AES, 3DES, RSA, Diffie-Hellman and ECC. These public-key encryption techniques now in use are based on challenging discrete logarithms for elliptic curves and complex factorization. However, those two difficult problems can be effectively solved with the help of sufficient large-scale quantum computer. The Post Quantum Cryptography (PQC) aims to deal with an attacker who has a large-scale quantum computer. Therefore, it is essential to build a robust and secure cryptography algorithm against most vulnerable pre-quantum cryptography methods. That is called ‘Post Quantum Cryptography’. Therefore, the present crypto system needs to propose encryption key and signature size is very large.in addition to careful prediction of encryption/decryption time and amount of traffic over the communication wire is required. The post-quantum cryptography (PQC) article discusses different families of post-quantum cryptosystems, analyses the current status of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) post-quantum cryptography standardisation process, and looks at the difficulties faced by the PQC community.