Post - Quantum Cryptography and Authentication: Enhancing Security for the Quantum Era

Adel Hassan, Isam Ishaq, Jorge Munilla

The imminent advent of quantum computing threatens the long-term security of classical public-key cryptography, creating critical challenges for resource-constrained internet of things (IoT) environments.Hybrid cryptographic frameworks combining elliptic curve cryptography (ECC) with post-quantum cryptography (PQC) primitives have emerged as a transitional solution; however, their security properties remain insufficiently validated under semi-trusted infrastructure assumptions.This paper presents a comprehensive security evaluation of a hybrid ECC-KEM authentication and key agreement framework targeting IoT deployments.Using a dual-verification methodology that integrates formal symbolic analysis with the Tamarin-Prover and practical AI-assisted testing via the APSVer tool, we identify a critical impersonation vulnerability that enables a semi-trusted third party (TTP) to reconstruct PUF-based authentication material.To mitigate this flaw, we introduce a protocol enhancement incorporating ML-DSA post-quantum digital signatures and device-isolated key derivation.Formal verification confirms that the enhanced protocol achieves mutual authentication, session key secrecy, replay resistance, and effective isolation of the TTP.Experimental performance analysis demonstrates that the proposed security improvements introduce only a 12%-15% computational overhead, preserving feasibility for constrained IoT devices.The proposed framework provides a practical, quantum-resilient authentication architecture suitable for next-generation secure IoT deployments.

Agnibha Chakraborty, Mohammad Kouali, Ashraf Adel Shaqadan

Manmohan Singh, Sandeep K. Sood, Munish Bhatia

J. Angel Ida Chellam, R. Kowsalya, R Ramya. +1 more

The advent of quantum computing threatens to undermine current encryption methods significantly, especially those employed in mobile data transmission networks. Quantum algorithms can solve the computational challenges behind present public-key encryption methods like RSA (Rivest-Shamir-Adleman) and elliptic curve cryptography at a speedy rate. With mobile communication networks handling more and more sensitive information, the availability of secure authentication methods is increasingly important. This project proposes to investigate how mobile data communication systems can leverage post-quantum cryptographic (PQC) techniques to enhance authentication protocols. The research compares some NIST-standardized post-quantum cryptography candidates, i.e., lattice-based, code-based, hash-based, and multivariate polynomial cryptography, focusing on their usage in mobile environments. We establish a guideline for constructing PQC-improved authentication protocols, focusing on their quantum-resistance, computational cost, and appropriateness for resource-constrained mobile devices. Our analysis proves that the regulations successfully protect information’s secrecy, integrity, and authenticity in the post-quantum era. This has led to the development of future-proof, safe, and resilient mobile communication networks. PQC augmented authentication systems offer good resistance against quantum attacks while supporting acceptable performance on mobile devices, as evidenced by previous research. Mobile communication systems can achieve long-term security through PQC, thus safeguarding user data and critical infrastructure against potential adversaries that might employ quantum computing in the future.

Alok Priyadarshi, Raushan Kumar, Kumar Soumya +2 more

TANG Pengyi,LI Guochun,YU Gang,ZHONG Jun,ZHANG Yinghua,XUE Lu,ZHAO Ziyan

In the future quantum computing era,there will be security risks in the authentication and key exchange links of constructing Virtual Private Network(VPN).Therefore,a VPN enhanced security architecture based on Quantum Secure Key Management Service(QS-KMS) is established to implement quantum security solutions based on quantum cryptography.A global unified backend QS-KMS service is used to provide authentication and session key for IPSec VPN to decouple VPN services from physical layer quantum devices.In view of the complex working conditions and strong environmental interference of power overhead fiber optic cables,the QS-KMS key pool dynamic key management technology and post-quantum cryptography technology are applied to keep the key pool sufficient to ensure the stable operation of VPN.On this basis,the effective quantum security VPN service in the power communication network is realized.Test results show that this method can meet the needs of power grid control communication.