Owing to the expansion of non-face-to-face activities, security issues in video conferencing systems are becoming more critical. In this paper, we focus on the end-to-end encryption (E2EE) function among security services of video conferencing systems. First, the E2EE-related protocols of Zoom and Secure Frame (SFrame), which are representative video conferencing systems, are thoroughly investigated, and the two systems are compared and analyzed overall. Next, the E2EE protocol in the Government Public Key Infrastructure (GPKI)-based video conferencing system, in which the user authentication mechanism is fundamentally different from those used in private sector systems, such as Zoom or SFrame, will be considered. In particular, among E2EE-related protocols, we propose a detailed mechanism in which the post-quantum cryptography (PQC) key encapsulation mechanism (KEM) is applied to the user key exchange process. As the session key is not disclosed to the central server even in futuristic quantum computers, the mechanism to which the PQC KEM method proposed in this study is applied satisfies the E2EE security requirements and can be applied to domestic GPKI-based systems. It is expected to contribute in strengthening the safety of the next-generation video conferencing system.
Owing to the expansion of non-face-to-face activities, security issues in video conferencing systems are becoming more critical. In this paper, we focus on the end-to-end encryption (E2EE) function among security services of video conferencing systems. First, the E2EE-related protocols of Zoom and Secure Frame (SFrame), which are representative video conferencing systems, are thoroughly investigated, and the two systems are compared and analyzed overall. Next, the E2EE protocol in the Government Public Key Infrastructure (GPKI)-based video conferencing system, in which the user authentication mechanism is fundamentally different from those used in private sector systems, such as Zoom or SFrame, will be considered. In particular, among E2EE-related protocols, we propose a detailed mechanism in which the post-quantum cryptography (PQC) key encapsulation mechanism (KEM) is applied to the user key exchange process. As the session key is not disclosed to the central server even in futuristic quantum computers, the mechanism to which the PQC KEM method proposed in this study is applied satisfies the E2EE security requirements and can be applied to domestic GPKI-based systems. It is expected to contribute in strengthening the safety of the next-generation video conferencing system.
Because of Shor’s method, it is expected that quantum computers will have the capability to decipher current public key encryption methods. Consequently, there is a need to replace existing public key cryptography with quantum-resistant cryptography, also known as post-quantum cryptography (PQC) algorithms. In the last twenty years, significant progress has been made in the field of PQC research, leading to the creation of various algorithms that are proven to be resistant to quantum attacks. Several organizations responsible for standardization have already selected and are in the process of standardizing specific PQC algorithms.In popular instant messaging and voice-over IP applications like Signal, Facebook Messenger, and WhatsApp, the Signal Protocol provides end-to-end encryption (E2EE) and additional security features such as forward secrecy, future secrecy, authentication, asynchronous communication, and deniability. The protocol utilizes the ECDH Curve25519 key exchange and hash-based key derivation algorithms to accomplish this. However, the ECDH key exchange is vulnerable to attacks from quantum computers, which can compromise the security of contemporary cryptographic techniques by obtaining the corresponding public keys. Therefore, there is a need to replace the ECDH key exchange with a quantum-safe key exchange scheme that is resistant to attacks from quantum computers.In this context, the focus is on investigating post-quantum cryptography (PQC) that can provide robust security against quantum computing threats and proposing an end-to-end encryption scheme.
Quantum computing is a potentially significant threat to classical cryptographic methods, commonly influenced for mobile communication security. In this paper, we propose one secure channel for private, personal mobile devices that are based not only on post-quantum cryptographically algorithm but also to secure communications in the quantum era. NIST-spec kemsKyber2 and Saber represent for irreplaceable session keys in communication against prospective quantum threats. The keys are periodically replaced in order to provide forward secrecy and to protect against an eventual compromise. In addition to the features of mobile platforms, the scheme employs a lightweight authentication protocol applied to lattice-based cryptography which has been shown to be secure and low resource overhead. Testing the proposed solution was practicable and wielded manageable results since it was performed on Android devices with an average key exchange latency of less than 250 milliseconds and a secure message delivery of below 500 milliseconds without compromising the AES-256 equivalence level of privacy. The engineers and software developers with the results from this study could safely claim that practically, it is indeed doable to transfer secure messages on mobile platforms in the post-quantum era and they’d have that same level of confidence with respect to the adoption of cipher suites based on post-quantum standards within any future communication systems.Keywords: Post-quantum cryptography, quantum-resistant encryption, key encapsulation mechanism (KEM), end-to-end encryption (E2EE), quantum key distribution (QKD), mobile communication security, lattice-based cryptography, publickey infrastructure (PKI), quantum computing threats.
The fast development of cyber communications, multimedia distribution, remote working have promoted the demand to transmit sensitive information through secure means in both the public and the private networks. The advent of massive quantum computers is rendering traditional cryptographic algorithms like RSA and Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) insecure because they can crack the classical public-key algorithms like the Shor and Grover algorithms. This brings an immediate need of hybrid cryptographic systems, which integrate classical, quantum, and post-quantum algorithms to provide confidentiality, integrity, authentication, and future security beyond the quantum threat horizon.The paper is a proposal of a Hybrid Quantum-Post-Quantum Cryptographic Framework of transmitting files safely. It starts by aggregating files, which is a process to compress several files, images, videos, and multimedia files that users have chosen into one file to minimize redundancy and ease encryption. The AES-256 encrypted file is in GCM mode and provides confidentiality and integrity of the compressed file.The dual-layer mechanism ensures key establishment security. To begin with, Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) based on the protocols of BB84/E91 allows the Sender and the Receiver to generate a Quantum Secret Key (QSK) by exchanging quantum bits in quantum channel. Constant monitoring of the error rate facilitates automatic eavesdropping detection, and guarantees the keys generation is made when the conditions are secure, as well as the safeguarding of interception and man-in-the-middle attacks.A post-quantum layer is provided to ensure long-term security against quantum cryptanalysis, which uses Kyber, a NIST-approved lattice-based Key Encapsulation Mechanism (KEM). The Receiver creates a key pair of Kyber and disseminates the public key to the Sender. By using encapsulation, the Sender gets a PQC ciphertext and a Shared Secret (SS), with decapsulation on the Receiver side giving ensure that only participants of good faith get the same secret value.The hybridization phase consists of combining the QSK of QKD and SS of Kyber with the help of HKDF-SHA256 to obtain a Final Wrap Key (FWK). AES-GCM encrypts the key of file encryption by wrapping it with FWK which allows a secure and authenticated transfer of the key. The Sender sends four messages: encrypted file, Kyber ciphertext, wrapped AES key and the initialisation vector. At Receiver end, FWK is calculated once again with the help of QSK and SS so that the original data can be decrypted with the help of AES key.The suggested framework provides a defense-in-depth solution based on the combination of quantum security, post-quantum resilience and authenticated symmetric encryption. It can be analyzed that there is a strong resistance to classical and quantum adversaries, scalability, and compatibility with the existing communication networks. This renders the model to be appropriate to secure government communication, military systems, data exchange in healthcare environments, cloud storage and financial infrastructures. Keywords— Quantum Key Distribution (QKD), Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC), Kyber,Key Encapsulation Mechanism (KEM), HKDF-SHA256, Quantum Secret Key (QSK), GCM Mode.
Classical public-key cryptographic algorithms like the RSA algorithm and Diffie-Hellman are used to secure internet communications. However, the emergence of quantum computers poses a significant threat to these established algorithms, potentially leading to security breaches and malicious attacks. If quantum computers can break these algorithms, the entire security infrastructure of the internet could be compromised. Post- quantum cryptography (PQC) is a cryptographic area dedicated to developing new encryption and key exchange mechanisms that can resist quantum attacks. Its goal is to create quantum-resistant cryptographic algorithms, with NIST playing a central role in standardization and collaboration to ensure information security in the era of quantum computing. This study conducts a survey of Key Encapsulation Mechanism (KEM) algorithms within the field of Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC), along with their alternative counterparts. It provides a comprehensive analysis of performance metrics, including key sizes, execution times, and runtime performance, specifically focusing on Key Encapsulation Mechanism (KEM) algorithms.
The potential of the swift development of quantum computing is an extreme danger to the traditional cryptographic programs, and they are the foundation of the modern communication infrastructure. RSA and ECC are classical public-key algorithms that can be successfully quantum-attacked, in particular, Shor's algorithm can easily factor large integers and calculate discrete logarithms (Bernstein et al., 2017). The Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) has become the key to secure the next-generation communication networks against these threats, which relies on lattice problem-based algorithms, hash-based based algorithms, multivariate polynomials-based algorithms, and code-based cryptography. The paper examines the concepts, design, and implementation issues of PQC within current network infrastructure focusing on the secure transmission of data, authentication, and key management in the upcoming 5G and 6G networks. The approach will include the survey of existing algorithms of PQC, model the integration of protocol in the communication systems and test computational efficiency, security strength, and scalability. It has been found that PQC is suitable to protect network communications against quantum attackers, and achieves reasonable performance, though trade-offs can be seen in terms of computation overhead, key size, and latency. The research offers understanding to the researcher, network engineers and policy makers in order to adopt quantum resistant cryptography protocols to secure the confidentiality, integrity and authenticity of information in the future communication networks.
The need for secure communication in the advent of fully developed quantum computers is underscored by the ongoing standardization of Post-Quantum Cryptography algorithms (PQC). However, due to the complexity and long processing time of PQC algorithms, it is impractical to use them directly in most applications. Therefore, a practical implementation, especially in applications that may be vulnerable to quantum attacks, is essential. This paper proposes PQC-based and PQC-AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) hybrid Public Key Encryption (PKE) protocols to secure the communication of application data transmitted between two parties. The parties securely exchange their PQC keys using a PQC Key Encapsulation Mechanism (KEM) scheme. In the PQC-based PKE, the exchanged PQC public keys (asymmetric key cryptography) are used to encrypt data for network transmission. To decrypt the encrypted data, each party uses their private PQC secret key, known only to them, enabling secure end-to-end communication. In the PQC-AES hybrid PKE, a two-way shared secret key is used to generate a symmetric key (symmetric key cryptography) for encryption and decryption. The performance of the proposed protocols is evaluated through experiments with PQC algorithms in a client-server file transfer application. The evaluation results highlight the necessity of considering security, latency, and other metrics when implementing PQC algorithms in various applications. It is confirmed that KYBER1024 and BIKE-L1 achieved similar throughput in comparison to using the conventional AES-256 key encryption algorithm without extensive overheads in the wireless network for a smaller load (e.g., 1 KB size), while the PQC-AES hybrid cryptography protocol may be suitable for applications where the data size is larger,