The integration of Internet of Things (IoT) technology into transportation systems holds immense potential to transform the way we move people and goods, offering benefits such as increased efficiency, reduced emissions, improved safety, and enhanced user experience. With the ubiquitous and high-speed connectivity, sixth-generation (6G) technology is envisaged to make unprecedented revolutions in several fields and applications including IoT applications and transportation systems. The convergence of 6G networks with these applications will provide seamless connectivity and help to integrate functionalities such as sensing, communication, and computing, resulting in superior service quality. However, the IoT network is highly vulnerable to cyber-attacks. With the recent developments in quantum computers and quantum algorithms, it is important to make them secure from quantum attacks as well. In this paper, we propose a quantum-safe authentication protocol using a Post-Quantum Key Encapsulation Mechanism (PQKEM) for IoT applications in transportation systems. The protocol is built using CRYSTALS-Kyber, a lattice-based PQKEM, selected by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in round 3 of the post-quantum standardization process. We provide a formal security proof of the proposed authentication protocol using the Real-Or-Random (RoR) model. We also present a performance analysis of the proposed authentication protocol.
The integration of Internet of Things (IoT) technology into transportation systems holds immense potential to transform the way we move people and goods, offering benefits such as increased efficiency, reduced emissions, improved safety, and enhanced user experience. With the ubiquitous and high-speed connectivity, sixth-generation (6G) technology is envisaged to make unprecedented revolutions in several fields and applications including IoT applications and transportation systems. The convergence of 6G networks with these applications will provide seamless connectivity and help to integrate functionalities such as sensing, communication, and computing, resulting in superior service quality. However, the IoT network is highly vulnerable to cyber-attacks. With the recent developments in quantum computers and quantum algorithms, it is important to make them secure from quantum attacks as well. In this paper, we propose a quantum-safe authentication protocol using a Post-Quantum Key Encapsulation Mechanism (PQKEM) for IoT applications in transportation systems. The protocol is built using CRYSTALS-Kyber, a lattice-based PQKEM, selected by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in round 3 of the post-quantum standardization process. We provide a formal security proof of the proposed authentication protocol using the Real-Or-Random (RoR) model. We also present a performance analysis of the proposed authentication protocol.
The integration of Internet of Things (IoT) technology into transportation systems to enable real-time data collection and analysis helps to achieve increased efficiency and enhanced user experience. However, the IoT network faces significant cybersecurity challenges, especially with the advent of quantum computing, which poses a serious threat to classical security schemes. This paper proposes an authentication protocol for IoT-based transportation systems using CRYSTALS-Kyber, a lattice-based Post-Quantum Key Encapsulation Mechanism (PQKEM), and Quantum Random Number Generators (QRNGs) together with lightweight cryptographic operations. In contrast to the existing literature, the proposed protocol is lightweight and provides protection against conventional and quantum attacks while adhering to standards and ensuring interoperability with future systems. We provide a formal security proof of the proposed protocol using the Real-Or-Random (RoR) model and analyze its security under the Canetti-Krawczyk (CK) adversary model. The performance analysis shows that the protocol offers strong security and scalability with minimal computational overhead compared to existing schemes. Additionally, we assess the performance of the proposed protocol through simulations conducted with the NS3 simulator.
In emerging environments such as cloud computing and the Internet of Things (IoT), secure authentication and key negotiation play a crucial role in protecting data transmitted over public networks. However, many existing authentication protocols are still designed based on classical public-key cryptography primitives, and quantum computing may threaten their security. To address this challenge, we propose a post-quantum authentication and key agreement protocol that uses the lattice-based Kyber key encapsulation mechanism (KEM). Our proposed protocol integrates cryptographic authentication, smart card protection, and post-quantum key encapsulation mechanisms, enabling mutual authentication between users and servers and securely establishing session keys. The security of the protocol is formally analyzed in the Real-or-Random (ROR) model under the random oracle assumption and the IND-CCA security of the underlying KEM scheme. Furthermore, through informal security analysis, we have further demonstrated that the protocol possesses important security properties, including anonymity, untraceability, perfect forward confidentiality, and resistance to known attacks. In addition, the computational cost and communication overhead of the proposed scheme are evaluated and compared with several representative authentication protocols. The results show that the proposed protocol can provide strong security while maintaining low computational cost and communication overhead.
The rapid advancement of quantum computing poses significant threats to classical cryptographic methods, such as Rivest–Shamir–Adleman (RSA) and Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC), which currently secure Internet of Things (IoT) and cloud communications. Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC), particularly lattice-based schemes, has emerged as a promising alternative. CRYSTALS-Kyber, standardized by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) as ML-KEM, has shown efficiency and practicality for constrained IoT devices. Most existing research has focused on PQC within the Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocol. Consequently, a critical gap exists in understanding PQC’s performance in lightweight IoT protocols. These are Message Queuing Telemetry Transport (MQTT) and Constrained Application Protocol (CoAP), particularly under adverse network conditions. To address this gap, this paper provides a systematic review of the literature on the network resilience and performance of CRYSTALS-Kyber when integrated into these protocols operating over lossy and high-latency networks. Additional challenges include non-standardized integration, resource limitations, and side-channel vulnerabilities. This review provides a structured synthesis of current knowledge, highlights unresolved trade-offs between security and efficiency, and outlines future research directions, including protocol-level optimization, lightweight signature schemes, and resilience testing of PQC-secured IoT protocols under realistic conditions.
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 rapid proliferation of Internet of Things (IoT) devices has revolutionized digital communication, yet it simultaneously poses unprecedented security challenges due to constrained device capabilities and increasing cyber threats. Conventional cryptographic techniques, while currently effective, are vulnerable to emerging quantum computing technologies that threaten to render classical encryption obsolete. This paper explores the integration of quantum-safe cryptographic techniques within IoT networks to ensure long-term confidentiality, integrity, and authentication. It examines post-quantum cryptographic primitives, including lattice-based, hash-based, multivariate, and code-based schemes, and evaluates their suitability for resource-constrained IoT environments. The study focuses on lightweight implementation strategies, balancing computational efficiency with robust security requirements. Simulation analyses demonstrate that properly optimized quantum safe protocols can provide resilient encryption, key exchange, and digital signature functionalities without overwhelming device resources. Furthermore, the integration of these techniques with IoT communication standards and secure network protocols ensures end-to-end protection across heterogeneous networks. Challenges such as latency, energy consumption, and scalability are addressed, highlighting the necessity of tailored cryptographic solutions for diverse IoT applications. The findings confirm that quantum safe cryptography is essential for future-proofing IoT networks, offering sustainable security measures that remain resilient against both classical and quantum adversaries, thereby supporting the continued expansion of secure and intelligent interconnected systems.
The rapid convergence of sixth-generation (6G) networks and the Internet of Things (IoT) offers enormous potential for ultra-reliable, low-latency, and massive device connectivity. However, this integration also raises security and privacy concerns, particularly in light of new threats from quantum computing that could undermine traditional cryptography. The architecture of quantum-safe IoT networks that can withstand post-quantum security threats is thoroughly discussed in this review. It addresses the challenges related to how to use blockchain technology to provide decentralized trust as well as secure transactions, how to use post-quantum cryptographic algorithms to protect data confidentiality, and the best way to use a trust management architecture to improve identity verification, authorization, and authentication in the diverse IoT environment. The paper then examines scalability considerations, resource constraints, and interoperability problems that impact safe IoT deployments in the 6G era. This work serves as a roadmap for researchers and practitioners who aim to create robust and future IoT infrastructure and then maintain their security in a post-quantum world by integrating recent research patterns, solution development, and considerations related to real-world implementation.