The rapid growth of consumer electronic devices connected through emerging 6G networks introduces critical challenges in ensuring data security, privacy, and trust across decentralized internet of consumer electronics IoCE infrastructures. Traditional encryption and access control models are insufficient for highly dynamic, software-defined, and zero-touch network (ZTN) environments typical of consumer electronics. In this work, we propose a blockchain-assisted quantum encryption protocol tailored for IoCE-cloud architectures within secure and standardized 6G systems. The scheme integrates quantum key generation via unitary transformations, lightweight symmetric encryption using the ASCON cipher, and tamper-proof authentication through blockchain. It enables autonomous, self-configuring, and self-protecting communication pathways between consumer devices and cloud infrastructure. Formal and informal security analyses demonstrate resilience against classical and quantum attacks, including replay, eavesdropping, and Sybil attacks. The protocol is validated using Qiskit simulations on IBM quantum hardware, achieving 91% fidelity. Performance evaluation confirms its efficiency and scalability, highlighting its potential as a secure-by-design framework for next-generation IoCE systems aligned with the Zero-Touch vision.
The rapid growth of consumer electronic devices connected through emerging 6G networks introduces critical challenges in ensuring data security, privacy, and trust across decentralized internet of consumer electronics IoCE infrastructures. Traditional encryption and access control models are insufficient for highly dynamic, software-defined, and zero-touch network (ZTN) environments typical of consumer electronics. In this work, we propose a blockchain-assisted quantum encryption protocol tailored for IoCE-cloud architectures within secure and standardized 6G systems. The scheme integrates quantum key generation via unitary transformations, lightweight symmetric encryption using the ASCON cipher, and tamper-proof authentication through blockchain. It enables autonomous, self-configuring, and self-protecting communication pathways between consumer devices and cloud infrastructure. Formal and informal security analyses demonstrate resilience against classical and quantum attacks, including replay, eavesdropping, and Sybil attacks. The protocol is validated using Qiskit simulations on IBM quantum hardware, achieving 91% fidelity. Performance evaluation confirms its efficiency and scalability, highlighting its potential as a secure-by-design framework for next-generation IoCE systems aligned with the Zero-Touch vision.
Touch Healthcare (ZTH) in the 6G era envisions fully autonomous, intelligent, and secure healthcare systems enabled by IoT, quantum communication, and decentralized cloud infrastructures. As IoT devices proliferate in smart healthcare, they generate vast volumes of sensitive physiological data, requiring robust, scalable, and future-proof protection mechanisms. This paper presents a Quantum-Secured Hybrid Encryption Framework empowered by blockchain and Zero-Touch principles to ensure end-to-end confidentiality, integrity, and trust. The framework integrates a trusted authority for access control, quantum key controllers for cryptographic key generation, and secure data vaults for encrypted storage. Blockchain-enabled consensus nodes function as proxy service nodes, eliminating reliance on centralized service providers while securely managing cipher-text transactions in a distributed manner. The proposed system resists replay, side-channel, Sybil, and eavesdropping attacks and minimizes tampering risks through targeted quantum-based verification. Simulated results demonstrate a 93.33% accuracy rate, with discrepancies primarily caused by quantum device noise. By combining quantum encryption and blockchain within an AI-driven Zero-Touch architecture, this framework establishes a secure, decentralized, and resilient model for next-generation healthcare data sharing over 6G networks. Zero-Touch Healthcare (ZTH) in the 6G era envisions fully autonomous, intelligent, and secure healthcare systems enabled by IoT, quantum communication, and decentralized cloud infrastructures. As IoT devices proliferate in smart healthcare, they generate vast volumes of sensitive physiological data, requiring robust, scalable, and future-proof protection mechanisms. This paper presents a Quantum-Secured Hybrid Encryption Framework empowered by blockchain and Zero-Touch principles to ensure end-to-end confidentiality, integrity, and trust. The framework integrates a trusted authority for access control, quantum key controllers for cryptographic key generation, and secure data vaults for encrypted storage. Blockchain-enabled consensus nodes function as proxy service nodes, eliminating reliance on centralized service providers while securely managing cipher-text transactions in a distributed manner. The proposed system resists replay, side-channel, Sybil, and eavesdropping attacks and minimizes tampering risks through targeted quantum-based verification. Simulated results demonstrate a 93.33% accuracy rate, with discrepancies primarily caused by quantum device noise. By combining quantum encryption and blockchain within an AI-driven Zero-Touch architecture, this framework establishes a secure, decentralized, and resilient model for next-generation healthcare data sharing over 6G networks.
The rapid advancement of quantum computing poses critical challenges to traditional cryptographic infrastructures, particularly those relying on the hardness of mathematical problems such as RSA. Quantum cryptography provides a promising alternative by leveraging the principles of quantum mechanics for secure communication. In this work, we propose a lightweight quantum encryption scheme designed to deliver strong security properties suitable for next-generation consumer technologies, including the Internet of Things (IoT). The proposed protocol protects against multiple attack vectors, such as replay, side-channel, Sybil, and eavesdropping attacks, while simplifying key management through an identity-based mechanism. The system employs unitary transformations for qubit encryption, thereby ensuring confidentiality of probability amplitudes during transmission. Security validation using the Scyther tool demonstrates the protocol’s resilience against active and passive threats, while quantum simulation results on the IBM Perth device confirm its practicality and efficiency. The results indicate a 93.33% accuracy rate, closely aligning with theoretical expectations, making the scheme a strong candidate for secure communication in quantum-enabled consumer ecosystems.
The integration of blockchain with 6G networks offers secure, decentralized solutions for emerging consumer applications by addressing key challenges such as device reliability, interoperability, and security. Classical blockchains rely on cryptographic primitives for data integrity and trust, but these are vulnerable to quantum attacks and face scalability challenges in ultra-dense environments. To address these issues, we propose a quantum blockchain framework based on temporally entangled GHZ states, enabling inherent quantum encoding of block linkage and integrity. A four-qubit blockchain data structure is designed and implemented using IBM Q quantum processors, with a quantum hash circuit developed to link consecutive blocks securely. The system’s resilience is validated against two representative quantum attacks, CNOT and Ping Pong, demonstrating its ability to maintain tamper resistance in noisy environments. The experimental results achieved a fidelity of 65.79% and offered greater structural security than classical hash-based chains under similar conditions. This enables secure, scalable, and quantum-resilient blockchain integration for 6G consumer applications such as telemedicine, IoT device authentication, decentralized finance, and immersive edge services.
The emergence of sixth-generation (6G) networks and the rapid proliferation of Internet of Things (IoT) devices demand advanced security frameworks capable of operating in highly dynamic, autonomous, and zero-touch environments. Classical cryptographic solutions, relying on static policies and centralized trust models, fall short of addressing quantum-era threats and decentralized infrastructures. To overcome these limitations, we propose a quantum-enabled designated verifier signature (QDVS) scheme for smart IoT in 6G networks. The scheme leverages controlled quantum teleportation for secure state transfer, integrates identity-based verification for signer-verifier binding, and ensures tamper- proof trust management through blockchain assistance. By exploiting quantum principles such as superposition and entanglement, the scheme guarantees unforgeability, source hiding, and non-repudiation, while enabling scalable and autonomous operations within Zero-Touch IoT-cloud architectures. Security is validated through both informal analysis and formal verification using the Scyther tool, demonstrating resistance against classical and quantum attacks, including impersonation, replay, and forgery. Implementation on IBM’s Qiskit simulator achieves fidelity above 89.65% with minimal communication overhead, confirming the feasibility of the proposed protocol for real-world 6G IoT deployments. This work represents a secure-by-design signature framework, aligning with the long-term resilience goals of next-generation networks.
The Internet of Things (IoT) is expanding swiftly, offering ease in everyday life. As the IoT systems produce enormous volumes of data, frequently encompassing private and confidential information, it is imperative to ensure their security. To ensure the security in IoT systems, we present a blockchain-enabled data encryption scheme utilizing quantum computing. This consensus mechanism eliminates the need for outside central service providers and encrypts data and accumulates converted cipher-text using consensus nodes acting as proxy service nodes. This approach alleviates the constraints associated with storing and sharing private encrypted information securely over a decentralized network. The suggested protocol possesses security attributes to counter replay attacks, side-channel attacks, Sybil attacks, and eavesdropping attacks, while mitigating tampering risks through targeted verification. Experimental results demonstrate an accuracy rate of 93.33%, with any discrepancies attributed to quantum device errors. The proposed protocol combines quantum encryption and blockchain-based security to create a scalable, decentralized, and resilient framework for securing IoT data sharing.
The rapid proliferation of Consumer-Centric Internet of Things (CCIoT) devices has resulted in massive volumes of data being generated and transmitted across edge and cloud infrastructures. However, limited computational and memory resources, coupled with the vulnerabilities of open communication networks, expose CCIoT ecosystems to severe security threats. With the advent of quantum computing, traditional cryptographic schemes risk becoming obsolete, necessitating the integration of quantum cryptography into edge-assisted CCIoT protocols. In this paper, we propose a blockchain-enabled quantum-designated verifier signature protocol designed to ensure secure data transmission and storage within CCIoT networks. The protocol leverages a private blockchain, where peer nodes generate blocks from service-provider data, thereby enhancing confidentiality and integrity. Informal security verification and informal analysis confirm the robustness of the scheme against both classical and quantum adversaries. Extensive experiments, implemented in Python, evaluate the proposed quantum signature protocol theoretically and practically. The results demonstrate strong encryption performance, achieving a computational cost of 41.5 ms and communication overhead of 834 bits, outperforming recent benchmark schemes. The findings highlight the superior reliability, scalability, and efficiency of our approach, offering a viable quantum security solution for future CCIoT ecosystems.