Abstract The constant evolution of the Internet of Things (IoT) concept involves the idea that all elements in the global network communication are reachable without the need for human intervention. In this context, the paramount concern is security, aiming to safeguard IoT communication against unauthorized access. According to the analysis, the security of the IoT communication framework relies on traditional cryptographic schemes like the RSA algorithm. Nevertheless, the latest developments in quantum computing and information processing pose a significant threat to these established schemes. Motivated by this fact, in this article, we proposed a novel quantum authentication and key agreement (QAKA) protocol that provides unconditional security against any classical and futuristic quantum threats. Our protocol ensures secure key agreement and mutual authentication based on quantum hashing with quantum passwords and quantum key distribution. The proposed scheme utilizes quantum teleportation and Greenberger–Horne–Zeilinger states for secure data transfer among entities. Our work is simulated using the Automated Validation of Internet Security Protocols and Applications tool to prove our protocol's formal correctness and security. The Burrows, Abadi, and Needham logic is applied to prove the goal of our protocol. Random oracle model for formal security analysis is presented in our work. Our protocol is also informally analyzed, considering the characteristics such as correctness, security against repudiation and the impossibility of cloning. The proposed protocol is compared with the related protocols in terms of various security features such as replay attacks, man‐in‐middle attacks and futuristic quantum attacks. Finally, the performance of the proposed protocol is presented, revealing superior efficacy when compared with classical authentication schemes and quantum protocols.
Abstract The constant evolution of the Internet of Things (IoT) concept involves the idea that all elements in the global network communication are reachable without the need for human intervention. In this context, the paramount concern is security, aiming to safeguard IoT communication against unauthorized access. According to the analysis, the security of the IoT communication framework relies on traditional cryptographic schemes like the RSA algorithm. Nevertheless, the latest developments in quantum computing and information processing pose a significant threat to these established schemes. Motivated by this fact, in this article, we proposed a novel quantum authentication and key agreement (QAKA) protocol that provides unconditional security against any classical and futuristic quantum threats. Our protocol ensures secure key agreement and mutual authentication based on quantum hashing with quantum passwords and quantum key distribution. The proposed scheme utilizes quantum teleportation and Greenberger–Horne–Zeilinger states for secure data transfer among entities. Our work is simulated using the Automated Validation of Internet Security Protocols and Applications tool to prove our protocol's formal correctness and security. The Burrows, Abadi, and Needham logic is applied to prove the goal of our protocol. Random oracle model for formal security analysis is presented in our work. Our protocol is also informally analyzed, considering the characteristics such as correctness, security against repudiation and the impossibility of cloning. The proposed protocol is compared with the related protocols in terms of various security features such as replay attacks, man‐in‐middle attacks and futuristic quantum attacks. Finally, the performance of the proposed protocol is presented, revealing superior efficacy when compared with classical authentication schemes and quantum protocols.
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.
The Internet of Things (IoT) represents a dynamic infrastructure, leveraging sensing and network communication technology to establish ubiquitous connectivity among people, machines, and objects. Due to its end devices’ limited computing resources and storage space, it is not feasible to merely transpose traditional internet security technologies directly to IoT endpoints. Maintaining security while concurrently ensuring performance is a particularly challenging endeavor. This paper provides a review of key agreements and authentication protocols pivotal to the security of IoT. First, this survey discusses the applications that need authentication and key agreement to strengthen their security and current research on these application fields. Subsequently, this paper engages in an in-depth exploration of the phase involved in the scheme of authentication and key agreement, including an examination of the cryptographic techniques employed within these processes. This survey also thoroughly studies the scheme’s security services, potential attacks, formal analysis and informal analysis to ensure resilience against such threats. This study aims to provide a profound understanding of the recent research on authentication and key agreement in IoT applications. It strives to contribute towards strengthening security systems for IoT applications, ensuring their sustainability in the face of evolving threats.
The Internet of Things (IoT) is among the most promising technologies of the future, and its development has garnered attention worldwide. However, the rise of the IoT has been accompanied by a proportionate increase in security concerns regarding communication between IoT entities. Recently, Alzahrani et al. proposed an identity-based authentication and key agreement protocol for an IoT environment, wherein a physically unclonable function was employed. They claimed that their protocol can resist various types of attacks; however, after thorough analysis, we determined it to be ineffective against privileged internal attacks, physical IoT device capture attacks, stolen-verifier attacks, and known temporary information exposure attacks. To resolve these security weaknesses, we propose a new authentication and key agreement protocol. In addition, we demonstrate that the proposed protocol is provably secure in real-or-random (ROR) model and Burrows–Abadi–Needham (BAN) logic, resisting known attacks while incurring low communication and computation costs.
The rapid proliferation of Internet of Things devices (IoT) across healthcare, smart homes, transportation, and industrial automation has led to an unprecedented exchange of sensitive data over wireless channels, exposing these networks to cyberattacks, eavesdropping, and unauthorized access.Conventional cryptographic techniques, which rely on computational hardness assumptions, are increasingly vulnerable to the emerging capabilities of quantum computing.This paper explores the application of Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) as a means of enabling secure and dependable data communication for IoT devices.By exploiting the fundamental principles of quantum mechanics, QKD allows two communicating parties to generate a shared secret key while inherently detecting any attempt at interception.The proposed approach aims to enhance data privacy, ensure secure authentication, preserve confidentiality, and safeguard IoT systems against present and future quantum enabled threats.The integration of quantum based security techniques into existing IoT infrastructure is examined, along with its implications for improving the reliability and trustworthiness of wireless IoT communication systems.This work positions Quantum Enhanced Secure Data Communication as a forward looking security solution for next generation IoT networks.
The advent of Internet of Things (IoT) ushers in a significant potential to integrate individuals, devices, and data, leading to a profound change in our professional and social environments. The small, resource-constrained IoT devices are usually deployed to collect various types of critical data in remote or unmonitored locations. Due to extensive interconnectivity, limited resources, and inadequate security design, IoT systems are vulnerable to communication-specific cyber threats, which aim to disrupt operations, steal sensitive information, or cause damage. To resolve the security concerns in IoT communications, many recent efforts have been devoted to designing authenticated key agreement protocols for IoT systems. However, not only most of the existing solutions fail to adopt cost-effective techniques for resource-limited IoT devices, but also they ignore the differentiation among various data types in the established session keys. A few approaches use traditional physical unclonable functions (PUFs) to address resource concerns, yet they introduce new security issues into IoT systems. Once the PUF cryptographic information is compromised by machine learning attacks, the entire authentication framework collapses. Therefore, in this paper we propose an authenticated key agreement protocol for device-to-gateway communication in IoT systems based on Chebyshev polynomial and probability-based PUF. We examine the proposed protocol’s security features through formal security validation. We also conduct performance evaluation through a simulation-oriented study, and the results clearly prove that the proposed protocol offers superior security and privacy, while maintaining low computational overhead.
The rapid implementation of the Internet of Things (IoT) has raised security concerns, therefore revealing significant vulnerabilities in many sectors, including smart cities, healthcare, and agriculture. This extensive analysis of quantum computing and IoT security devices delineates the advantages of quantum algorithms and the potential for securing communication. Protocols including quantum concepts such as superposition, entanglement, and quantum interference, leading to safe key distribution and authentication procedures, are examined. This paper introduces a novel strategy to reduce the risks that quantum computing presents to IoT systems, which current cryptography solutions fail to adequately address. Quantum computers may use these vulnerabilities to undermine key-pair formation and get private keys from transaction signatures. These transaction signatures are optimized for low-power, cost-effective microcontrollers, such as the ESP32, making the solution accessible for a diverse array of IoT devices. The report features a case study on a post-quantum secure portable device for detecting blood oxygen levels and heart rate, demonstrating the practical advantages and efficacy of the suggested method in improving IoT security against quantum threats. The review addresses quantum key distribution (QKD) protocols, quantum authentication methods proposed as solutions, and the difficulties associated with implementing quantum cryptography techniques in IoT systems. This review assesses the feasibility of quantum-enabled communication, explores its applications across several industries, and examines existing quantum software tools. The objective is to provide a basis for future research and effective practical solutions in the dynamic realm of IoT security.