In the near future, commercially accessible quantum computers are anticipated to revolutionize the world as we know it. These advanced machines are predicted to render traditional cryptographic security measures, deeply ingrained in contemporary communication, obsolete. While symmetric cryptography methods like AES can withstand quantum assaults if key sizes are doubled compared to current standards, asymmetric cryptographic techniques, such as RSA, are vulnerable to compromise. Consequently, there is a pressing need to transition towards post-quantum cryptography (PQC) principles in order to safeguard our privacy effectively. A challenge is to include PQC into existing protocols and thus into the existing communication structure. In this work, we report on the first experimental IPsec tunnel secured by the PQC algorithms Falcon, Dilithium, and Kyber. We deploy our IPsec tunnel in two scenarios. The first scenario represents a high-performance data center environment where many machines are interconnected via high-speed networks. We achieve an IPsec tunnel with an AES-256 GCM encrypted east–west throughput of 100 Gbit/s line rate. The second scenario shows an IPsec tunnel between a wireless NVIDIA Jetson and the cloud that achieves a 0.486 Gbit/s AES-256 GCM encrypted north–south throughput. This case represents a mobile device that communicates securely with applications running in the cloud.
In the near future, commercially accessible quantum computers are anticipated to revolutionize the world as we know it. These advanced machines are predicted to render traditional cryptographic security measures, deeply ingrained in contemporary communication, obsolete. While symmetric cryptography methods like AES can withstand quantum assaults if key sizes are doubled compared to current standards, asymmetric cryptographic techniques, such as RSA, are vulnerable to compromise. Consequently, there is a pressing need to transition towards post-quantum cryptography (PQC) principles in order to safeguard our privacy effectively. A challenge is to include PQC into existing protocols and thus into the existing communication structure. In this work, we report on the first experimental IPsec tunnel secured by the PQC algorithms Falcon, Dilithium, and Kyber. We deploy our IPsec tunnel in two scenarios. The first scenario represents a high-performance data center environment where many machines are interconnected via high-speed networks. We achieve an IPsec tunnel with an AES-256 GCM encrypted east–west throughput of 100 Gbit/s line rate. The second scenario shows an IPsec tunnel between a wireless NVIDIA Jetson and the cloud that achieves a 0.486 Gbit/s AES-256 GCM encrypted north–south throughput. This case represents a mobile device that communicates securely with applications running in the cloud.
The advent of quantum computing poses significant challenges to traditional cryptographic systems, threatening the confidentiality, integrity and authenticity of digital communications. This paper investigates the integration of Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) algorithms into mobile communication systems to address these challenges. The study focuses on evaluating key PQC algorithms shortlisted by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), including CRYSTALS-Kyber, CRYSTALS-Dilithium, Falcon and SPHINCS+, within the context of 5G and future mobile network architectures. The research encompasses the design and implementation of an experimental framework involving mobile devices, servers, and cloud-based infrastructure to simulate real-world communication scenarios. Performance metrics such as key generation time, signature generation, encryption and decryption speed, and resource consumption were analyzed across various devices to identify algorithms suitable for mobile environments. The findings reveal that lattice-based algorithms, such as Kyber and Dilithium, offer a promising balance between security and efficiency, making them ideal for resource-constrained devices. In contrast, hash-based algorithms like SPHINCS+ exhibit higher computational demands, limiting their practicality in certain applications. This work highlights the importance of algorithm selection and hardware optimization in ensuring secure and efficient communications in the quantum era. By integrating theoretical advancements in PQC with practical applications, this research lays the foundation for quantum-resistant security in mobile networks, ensuring secure and future-ready digital communications.
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,
Recent advances in quantum computing have prompted urgent consideration for the migration of classical cryptographic systems to post-quantum alternatives. However, it is impossible to fully understand the impact that migrating to current Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) algorithms will have on various applications without actual implementation of quantum-resistant cryptography. On the other hand, PQC algorithms come with complexity and long processing times, which may impact the Quality of Service (QoS) of many applications. Therefore, PQC-based protocols with practical implementation across various applications are essential. This paper introduces a new framework for PQC standalone and PQC-AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) hybrid Public Key Encryption (PKE) protocols. Building on prior results, we focus on securing applications such as file transfer, video streaming, and chat-based communication using enhanced PQC-based protocols. The extended PQC-based protocols use a sequence number-based mechanism to effectively counter replay and man-in-the-middle attacks and mitigate standard cybersecurity attack vectors. Experimental evaluations examined encryption/decryption speeds, throughput, and processing overhead for these standalone PQC and PQC-AES hybrid schemes, benchmarking them against traditional AES-256 in an existing client-server environment. The results demonstrate that the new approaches achieve a significant balance between security and system performance compared to conventional deployments. Furthermore, the comprehensive security analysis confirms the robustness and effectiveness of the proposed PQC-based protocols across diverse attack scenarios. Notably, the PQC-AES hybrid protocol demonstrates greater efficiency for applications handling larger data volumes (e.g., 10–100 KB) with reduced latency, underscoring the practical necessity of carefully balancing security and operational efficiency in the post-quantum migration process.
The advent of quantum computing poses significant challenges to traditional cryptographic systems, threatening the confidentiality, integrity and authenticity of digital communications. This thesis investigates the integration of Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) algorithms into mobile communication systems to address these challenges. The study focuses on evaluating key PQC algorithms shortlisted by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), including CRYSTALS-Kyber, CRYSTALS-Dilithium, Falcon and SPHINCS+, within the context of 5G and future mobile network architectures. The research encompasses the design and implementation of an experimental framework involving mobile devices, servers, and cloud-based infrastructure to simulate real-world communication scenarios. Performance metrics such as key generation time, signature generation, encryption and decryption speed, and resource consumption were analysed across various devices to identify algorithms suitable for mobile environments. The findings reveal that lattice-based algorithms, such as Kyber and Dilithium, offer a promising balance between security and efficiency, making them ideal for resourceconstrained devices. In contrast, hash-based algorithms like SPHINCS+ exhibit higher computational demands, limiting their practicality in certain applications. This work highlights the importance of algorithm selection and hardware optimization in ensuring secure and efficient communications in the quantum era. xi By integrating theoretical advancements in PQC with practical applications, this research lays the foundation for quantum-resistant security in mobile networks, ensuring secure and futureready digital communications.
As quantum computing capabilities accelerate, together with the discovery of Shor's Algorithm, existing encryption protocols, such as TLS (Transport Layer Security) and IPsec (Internet Protocol Security), face the risk of becoming obsolete. This vulnerability poses a significant challenge for 5G and 6G mobile networks, which rely on these protocols for data transmission. This survey explores the potential of Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) algorithms as viable alternatives for securing mobile communications. Through a comprehensive review of NIST-shortlisted PQC algorithms, this paper examines their relevance, efficiency, and adaptability in 5G and 6G architectures. Case studies, including real-world implementations by Amazon Web Services (AWS) and IBM, illustrate the growing acceptance and practical applicability of these quantum-resistant algorithms.