The increasing interconnectivity of aircraft on the one hand and the ongoing development of quantum computers on the other require better cybersecurity solutions, as current encryption and authentication mechanisms are rendered useless by quantum computers, meaning that aircraft communications can be decrypted and altered, leading to catastrophic failures. In particular, aircraft communication and maintenance interfaces that manage critical functions are vulnerable. Attempts to prove a Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) method has not been successful so far. It is questionable whether asymmetric methods can provide this property at all. With Quantum Key Distribution (QKD), it is possible to transmit Postquantum Pre-Shared Key (PPK) over long distances securely from adversaries. Symmetric cryptographic methods can be used on the basis of Pre-Shared Key (PSK), so that quantum attacks, e.g. with the Shor's algorithm, no longer pose a threat. This article shows how the communication of aircraft within the Aeronautical Telecommunication Network (ATN) can be secured by using a Quantum Key Distribution Network (QKD network) to transmit PSK across this network.
The increasing interconnectivity of aircraft on the one hand and the ongoing development of quantum computers on the other require better cybersecurity solutions, as current encryption and authentication mechanisms are rendered useless by quantum computers, meaning that aircraft communications can be decrypted and altered, leading to catastrophic failures. In particular, aircraft communication and maintenance interfaces that manage critical functions are vulnerable. Attempts to prove a Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) method has not been successful so far. It is questionable whether asymmetric methods can provide this property at all. With Quantum Key Distribution (QKD), it is possible to transmit Postquantum Pre-Shared Key (PPK) over long distances securely from adversaries. Symmetric cryptographic methods can be used on the basis of Pre-Shared Key (PSK), so that quantum attacks, e.g. with the Shor's algorithm, no longer pose a threat. This article shows how the communication of aircraft within the Aeronautical Telecommunication Network (ATN) can be secured by using a Quantum Key Distribution Network (QKD network) to transmit PSK across this network.
With the current development of quantum computing, some existing cryptographic protocols may be broken in the future, such as RSA with Shor's algorithm. To secure the future secret communications, but also the current ones from retrospective decryption, Pre-Shared Keys (PSK) can be used today, and two types of complementary solutions are currently being studied: Post Quantum Cryptography (PQC) and Quantum Key Distribution (QKD). The objective of this paper is to describe the latest, which relies on the laws of quantum physics to secure the sharing of secret keys. Among the current QKD systems, some are already commercially available. Their distance range is limited, generally around 100 km. To overcome this distance limitation, a first solution is currently being deployed in field trials using trusted nodes, forming the so-called Quantum Communication Infrastructure (QCI). The drawback is that users must trust QCI nodes, in which quantum communication are stopped, going back to classical data processing that can be eavesdropped. To overcome this problem, researchers are investigating solutions to build future quantum networks and Quantum Internet (QI), in which the processing in the networks remains quantum, using quantum buffers and entanglement swapping in quantum repeaters to increase the distance range of QKD. We briefly discuss the advantages and disadvantages of QKD versus PQC, with the two actually being complementary.
Large quantum computers will be able to break the cryptographic algorithms on which current secure communications rely on. Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) and Quantum key distribution (QKD) are two security technologies that show protection capabilities against the latent quantum threat. While PQC relies on different hard mathematical problems to develop a wide variety of cryptographic operations, QKD is based on quantum physics laws to generate and distribute symmetric cryptographic keys through different QKD protocols. These keys can be used by different applications to perform security transformations. QKD still requires authentication to prevent man-in-the-middle attacks. The hybridization of PQC and QKD is an important step for future secure infrastructures, being able to provide long-term security. In this work we propose authenticated QKD approaches that rely on pre-shared keys and hybrid PQC/QKD alternatives and which are able to securely exchange secret QKD keys through authenticated channels. We identify the different configuration alternatives and their parameters, as well as we develop a wide performance evaluation. Results show that pre-shared keys and PQC-based authentication through Dilithium algorithm are the fastest alternatives. Also, we show the potential of the T12 QKD protocol.
Due to the increasing attainability of quantum computers, the threat to traditional cryptographic algorithms is more relevant than ever before. However, the field of Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) to address this is still young and may potentially exhibit security vulnerabilities. In this paper, the role of Pre-Shared Keys (PSK) is analyzed in an attack scenario with both traditional and post-quantum algorithms potentially broken. We present a scheme for improved integration of external PSKs into a PQC-secured TLS 1.3 handshake, with a focus on no security compromises and broad deployment options. In that context, the protection of long-term secrets on dedicated security tokens and the integration of Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) are elaborated. For QKD integration, our scheme enables a deployment without QKD-specific changes to TLS. In addition to the scheme itself, a reference implementation is presented and evaluated to demonstrate its technical viability. Our results indicate that the general integration of PSKs into the TLS handshake adds negligible overhead while substantially increasing the achieved security level. Although deployments using dedicated security tokens or QKD systems have a significant influence on handshake times, specific applications could benefit greatly from the added security guarantees.
As quantum computing advances toward practical use, classical cryptography is at a serious risk of being compromised, especially with the use of quantum algorithms like the Shor algorithm, which can break RSA in polynomial time, as well as Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC). This research paper highlights the urgent need to protect electronic communications against quantum attacks by leveraging two novel approaches: Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) and Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC). The study aims to evaluate the effectiveness, scalability, and integration possibility of these technologies separately and in mixed combinations, to achieve long-term resilient cybersecurity. This research is a mixed-methods study that combines literature analysis, expert surveys, and performance benchmarking to determine the strength of encryption, compatibility with the network, and feasibility in the real world. First-hand information was gathered through structured surveys among cybersecurity professionals and scholars. In contrast, second-hand information was retrieved from peer-reviewed journals and official standards of institutions, such as NIST. It has been found that QKD offers unparalleled information-theoretic security, founded on quantum mechanics, yet has limitations in terms of scale and cost. PQC algorithms, however, especially lattice-based cryptography, are simpler to integrate into a classical infrastructure but present a performance issue on hardware with limited capabilities. Based on the study, a hybridized cryptographic model appears to be the best solution to the current approach of implementing the secure key exchange properties of QKD and the universal properties of PQC, without compromising either.
This Research Focuses on,the advent of quantum computing poses significant risks to classical encryption methods, rendering many existing cryptographic protocols obsolete. Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) emerges as a revolutionary solution, leveraging the principles of quantum mechanics to enable unconditionally secure communication. This research paper explores the implementation and advancements in QKD for securing networks against post-quantum threats. We analyze the challenges, practical implementations, and future prospects of integrating QKD into modern communication infrastructures. The findings highlight the critical role of QKD in ensuring resilient cybersecurity in the quantum era. We analyze the challenges, practical implementations, and future prospects of integrating QKD into modern communication infrastructures. The findings highlight the critical role of QKD in ensuring resilient cybersecurity in the quantum era.
Quantum key distribution (QKD) can provide information theoretically secure key exchange even in the era of quantum computer. However, QKD requires the classical channel to be authenticated, and the current method is pre-sharing symmetric keys. For a QKD network of n users, this method requires Cn2=n(n−1)/2 pairs of symmetric keys to realize pairwise interconnection. In contrast, with the help of mature public key infrastructure (PKI) and post-quantum cryptography (PQC) with quantum resistant security, each user only needs to apply for a digital certificate from certificate authority (CA) to achieve efficient and secure authentication for QKD. We only need to assume the short-term security of the PQC algorithm to achieve the long-term security of the distributed keys. Here, we experimentally verified the feasibility, efficiency and stability of the PQC algorithm in QKD authentication, and demonstrated the advantages when new users join the QKD network. Using PQC authentication we only need to believe the CA is safe, rather than all trusted relays. QKD combined with PQC authentication will greatly promote and extend the application prospects of quantum safe communication.