The security landscape will change dramatically with the advent of quantum computers and existing security schemes in various domains including smart grid communications must be updated to make them secure from quantum computer-enabled attacks. In this paper, we propose a quantum-safe mutual authentication protocol, leveraging the concepts of Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) and Quantum Random Number Generator (QRNG), for secure communication between smart meters and a server. Unlike conventional schemes based on cryptographic algorithms that rely on difficulties to solve certain mathematical problems, the proposed protocol is secure against attacks arising from quantum computers. In the proposed protocol, QKD is employed to establish secure keys in smart meter communications with provable security while QRNG provides truly random numbers that are unknown to any eavesdropper. Specifically, we employ the Measurement-Device-Independent Quantum Key Distribution (MDI QKD), a type of QKD whose security does not rely on any assumptions about measurement devices. We provide a formal security proof for the proposed scheme under the real-or-random (RoR) model. Additionally, we conduct a proof-of-concept experimental demonstration, using the secure keys from a MDI QKD system and random numbers from QRNG, to demonstrate the feasibility and practicality of the proposed scheme.
The security landscape will change dramatically with the advent of quantum computers and existing security schemes in various domains including smart grid communications must be updated to make them secure from quantum computer-enabled attacks. In this paper, we propose a quantum-safe mutual authentication protocol, leveraging the concepts of Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) and Quantum Random Number Generator (QRNG), for secure communication between smart meters and a server. Unlike conventional schemes based on cryptographic algorithms that rely on difficulties to solve certain mathematical problems, the proposed protocol is secure against attacks arising from quantum computers. In the proposed protocol, QKD is employed to establish secure keys in smart meter communications with provable security while QRNG provides truly random numbers that are unknown to any eavesdropper. Specifically, we employ the Measurement-Device-Independent Quantum Key Distribution (MDI QKD), a type of QKD whose security does not rely on any assumptions about measurement devices. We provide a formal security proof for the proposed scheme under the real-or-random (RoR) model. Additionally, we conduct a proof-of-concept experimental demonstration, using the secure keys from a MDI QKD system and random numbers from QRNG, to demonstrate the feasibility and practicality of the proposed scheme.
The extensive value and importance of smart grids are evident in their transformative impact on sustainable urban development. However, the swift progression of quantum computing has made the security and privacy of smart grid communications a pressing and vital issue. Although considerable studies have been carried out on authentication and key agreement within smart grids, the predominant body of solutions either come with substantial computation, communication, and storage overheads, or are primarily single-layer schemes. More importantly, they are not designed to withstand advanced quantum attacks. In this paper, we propose a novel quantum-safe and cross-layer authentication and key agreement protocol, named QCLaka, for smart grid communications that overcomes the shortcomings of existing approaches and offers advanced security and functionality features. The proposed QCLakaprotocol integrates lattice-based cryptography with probability physical unclonable function (Prob-PUF) to enable the local gateway and the smart meter to mutually authenticate each other and establish a secure session key. The security of the proposed QCLakaprotocol is assessed through formal security verification to highlight its safety in adversarial environments and its ability to withstand both well-known and advanced cyberattacks. Additionally, the experimental evaluation shows that the proposed QCLakaprotocol outperforms the benchmark schemes regarding the performance in security and efficiency.
The vast amounts of data and the growing number of attacks in the smart grids (SGs) are consequences of the huge reliance on information and communication technology, that is further posing serious risks to the confidentiality and integrity of the power data. On the other hand, recent advancements in quantum cryptography are emerging as foundation for secure communication protocols, offering robust defenses against potential cyber threats in SGs. In response to the imperative challenge of secure data transmission, a quantum cryptography based unconditionally secure data transmission model is proposed that integrates quantum key distribution (QKD) with classical encryption. Furthermore, truly random encryption keys generated through quantum random number generator (QRNG) are utilized that assists to overcome the limitations of pseudo-random number generator and leads to the highly immune data security mechanism. The efficacy of proposed model is evaluated through experimental results obtained over classical simulator along with real quantum computers accessed through the IBM Qiskit platform. The statistical analysis conducted on the resulting quantum states showcases a high degree of accurate measurements, thereby confirming the relevance of the proposed work.
Smart grids face emerging threats as connectivity expands attack surfaces. To strengthen smart meter data encryption through optimized integration of a cloud-based quantum random number generator (QRNG) service. QRNGs leverage intrinsic quantum properties to produce true randomness for cryptographic keys. An architecture is presented utilizing a QRNG service on the IBM quantum computing platform. Quantum entropy is remotely sampled and delivered on-demand via APIs to generate quantum random AES encryption keys for smart meter communications. Homomorphic encryption secures credential transmission. Compared to mathematical pseudorandom number generators, the quantum origin provides stronger security against brute force attacks and future quantum computing decryption. Tailoring QRNG generation and integration focuses on the performance, cost, and deployment constraints of grid-wide encryption hardening. The optimized approach aims to maximize randomness while minimizing complexity. By hardening cryptography via readily available quantum key generation, the QRNG integration delivers indispensable security enhancement.
Abstract Entity authentication and key exchange are fundamental prerequisites for ensuring the security of various emerging smart networks. However, most existing classical schemes are vulnerable to attacks from quantum computers. Recently, Prateek et al proposed a privacy-preserving mutual authentication scheme for smart metering infrastructure in smart grids. The authors claimed that their scheme is unconditionally secure and could resist various known security attacks, including impersonation attacks, eavesdropping attacks, and replay attacks. However, in this article, we demonstrate that there are serious security flaws in the proposed scheme. First, the scheme fails to ensure that two legitimate parties can reliably share a common session key, leading to a potential authentication failure. Second, an eavesdropper can exploit entangle-measure attacks to obtain partial information about the shared session key. Additionally, due to the inherent randomness of quantum measurements, the session key shared between two entities in each session is unpredictable. Consequently, the session keys distributed across different sessions may not be identical, further contributing to authentication failure. Finally, we provide an improvement to address these security flaws while preserving the original scheme’s advantageous features.
The security of data communication in Smart Grids (SGs) is traditionally reliant on cryptosystems based on the computational difficulty of certain mathematical problems. However, the advent of quantum computers, with their unparalleled computational power, threatens the robustness of classical cryptographic methods. Despite significant research into quantum-secure solutions, limited attention has been given to quantum-based security in SGs. To address these emerging security challenges, this paper proposes a quantum-based multifaceted secure communication model (Qu-MCM) for SGs, offering unconditional security by leveraging quantum mechanical principles. The key contributions include: quantum encryption of power consumption data using truly random keys, a quantum-secure key exchange protocol between power users and utility suppliers, and data authentication and integrity verification through quantum fingerprinting. The model is experimentally evaluated via simulations on classical computer and actual quantum hardware using the IBM Qiskit platform. The experimental results show that the encryption algorithm achieves an accuracy of 81.73%, while the authentication algorithm reaches 87.4% through a probability distribution graph where accuracy signifies the dominance of correct outputs. The results demonstrate the validity of the proposed model, with a comprehensive security analysis confirming its perfect security, where perfect security is defined as the maximally mixed states achieved after encryption that is impossible to break for an eavesdropper equipped with quantum resources.
The development and evolution of the smart grid into complex, cyber-physical energy systems make it essential to secure?communication among the distributed components. The rise of quantum computing has made it even more pressing to develop protocols that?are secure outside the limitations of classical cryptosystems. In this paper, it proposes a quantum-assisting secure communication scheme (QASCP) to?boost the security and energy for smart grid communication systems. The proposed protocol combines quantum key distribution with lightweight entropy-based mutual authentication and dynamic session management. It is designed to defend grid assets such as control centers, smart meters, and distribute energy?resources from sophisticated adversarial models, including quantum-capable threats. The approach consists of system level simulation utilizing a?co-simulation framework customized for quantum smart grid communication. The performance of this scheme was compared?against classical and PQ lattice-based schemes in terms of the authentication latency, energy consumption, entropy preservation, and scalability to handle the load and delay effects, under the assumptions of different loading and delay scenarios. Simulation results show that QASCP is able to reduce the energy consumption and authenticity latency, simultaneously it keeps the high throughput and leaves strong entropy?under attack scenarios. The protocol is also shown to?remain robust with varying quantum bit error rates as well as having a smaller memory footprint on popular network topologies. The results provide evidence for the practical integration of?quantum-secure communication in smart grid architectures. By addressing security and performance simultaneously, the protocol?provides a path to future-proof energy networks which can support dependable operations in a quantum-enhanced environment. This could be future enhance for energy efficiency.