This paper presents a lightweight secure appliance for database encryption and authentication, leveraging quantum random number generator (QRNG) keys. The appliance functions as an integrated and transparent layer between application servers and relational databases, enabling fine-grained, field-level encryption and access control without requiring changes to existing systems. By integrating lightweight symmetric encryption, mutual authentication with digital signatures and ephemeral key exchange, and true quantum entropy for all key material, the solution achieves strong data confidentiality and integrity with minimal computational overhead. The modular architecture is suitable for edge, embedded, and enterprise environments, and supports seamless upgrades to post-quantum cryptographic algorithms, ensuring long-term data security in the quantum era.
This paper presents a lightweight secure appliance for database encryption and authentication, leveraging quantum random number generator (QRNG) keys. The appliance functions as an integrated and transparent layer between application servers and relational databases, enabling fine-grained, field-level encryption and access control without requiring changes to existing systems. By integrating lightweight symmetric encryption, mutual authentication with digital signatures and ephemeral key exchange, and true quantum entropy for all key material, the solution achieves strong data confidentiality and integrity with minimal computational overhead. The modular architecture is suitable for edge, embedded, and enterprise environments, and supports seamless upgrades to post-quantum cryptographic algorithms, ensuring long-term data security in the quantum era.
In the face of escalating threats against conventional cryptographic authentication systems, quantum random number generators (QRNGs) offer a promising path toward unforgeable and unpredictable security primitives. This paper presents a quantum randomness-driven identity authentication framework that leverages device-independent QRNGs to generate ephemeral, irreproducible identity tokens. Unlike classical pseudo-random methods, QRNG-based schemes produce entropy from fundamental quantum phenomena, ensuring resistance to reverse engineering and side-channel attacks. The proposed protocol integrates quantum tokens into a mutual challenge–response structure, employs lightweight post-processing via entropy extractors, and supports deployment in low-latency IoT and edge computing scenarios. Experimental evaluations using QRNG-augmented authentication on simulated identity datasets demonstrate marked improvements in authentication unpredictability, collision resistance, and robustness under adversarial impersonation attempts. This work provides an end-to-end blueprint for embedding quantum entropy into next-generation identity frameworks, bridging the gap between quantum hardware and practical cybersecurity applications.
In the era of quantum computing, existing cryptographic systems are increasingly vulnerable to quantum-based attacks, necessitating the development of robust encryption architectures. This research proposes a secure quantum-enhanced cryptographic architecture using optimized tabula recta for cipher text hardening, fuses classical polyalphabetic substitution with quantum randomness to reinforce data confidentiality. The key issue addressed is the susceptibility of legacy encryption schemes, particularly those based on deterministic keys, to quantum algorithms such as Shor’s and Grover’s, which can compromise data integrity and confidentiality in seconds. To resolve this, introduce a hybrid encryption framework that optimizes the classical Tabula Recta Cipher (TRC) using quantum-generated keys to dynamically alter substitution patterns, thereby achieving non-repetitive and high-entropy ciphertext structures. The methodology incorporates a Quantum Random Number Generator (QRNG) to produce non-deterministic seed values, enhancing unpredictability, while an optimized Tabula Recta grid enables efficient yet secure symbol substitution. The primary objective is to provide a lightweight, scalable, and quantum-resilient encryption mechanism suitable for secure communications across cloud, IoT, and edge platforms. Experimental evaluations demonstrate significant improvements in entropy, diffusion, and resistance to brute-force and frequency analysis attacks compared to existing schemes. The results confirm that the proposed architecture offers a viable post-quantum cryptographic solution with enhanced ciphertext complexity and minimal computational overhead.
The Internet of Things (IoT) now underpins critical systems like healthcare monitors, smart home, smart grids, automotive V2V & V2X networks, and industrial controls but it still relies on classical cryptography, whose security assumptions are vulnerable to quantum computers. A large quantum computer could run Shor’s algorithm to break RSA/ECC and use Grover’s algorithm to accelerate brute-forcing of symmetric keys, undermining the confidentiality and authentication of data in these IoT applications. Researchers have proposed quantum cryptographic solutions. Quantum key distribution (QKD) and quantum random number generators (QRNGs) exploit quantum mechanics to detect eavesdropping and deliver provably secure key material. For example, chip-scale QRNGs can be embedded in IoT sensors to generate true random keys, boosting resistance to brute-force attacks. These quantum techniques provide information-theoretic secrecy, for instance, QKD-generated keys have been used to authenticate smart-grid SCADA. However, most IoT devices are resource-constrained, making direct deployment of conventional QKD hardware challenging. Post-quantum cryptography (PQC) complements quantum methods by providing algorithms such as lattice-based, hash-based that resist quantum attacks on existing hardware. Standardized PQC can be deployed via software updates on legacy IoT nodes, enabling scalable and quantum-safe security within current constraints. Researchers are exploring lightweight PQC for connected cars and e-health sensors. Hybrid approaches combining QKD/QRNG with PQC offer a layered defense. Since QKD protocols are regarded as ‘future-proof’ and PQC standards mature, their combined use will be essential for robust, quantum-safe IoT security. Miniaturizing quantum components such as integrated QKD/QRNG modules and optimizing lightweight PQC schemes for low-power IoT devices are future research directions to secure IoT networks.
The rapid growth of digital communication has increased the need for highly secure email systems capable of protecting sensitive information from evolving cyber threats. Traditional encryption techniques such as RSA and ECC are becoming vulnerable due to advancements in quantum computing, which can potentially break conventional cryptographic algorithms. To address these challenges, this project proposes a Quantum Secure Email Client Application that integrates post-quantum cryptography (PQC) techniques to ensure end-to-end secure communication. The proposed system employs quantum-resistant encryption algorithms such as lattice-based cryptography, hash-based signatures, or code-based encryption to secure email content, attachments, and user authentication processes. The email client ensures that messages are encrypted before transmission and can only be decrypted by the intended recipient, thereby preventing unauthorized access, interception, and data leakage. Additionally, the system incorporates secure key exchange mechanisms resistant to quantum attacks, ensuring safe communication even in the presence of quantum adversaries. The user interface is designed to be simple and user-friendly, allowing seamless sending and receiving of secure emails without requiring deep technical knowledge. The application enhances confidentiality, integrity, and authentication in email communication, making it suitable for defense, banking, healthcare, and government sectors where data security is critical. By integrating quantum-safe cryptographic techniques, the system provides a future-ready solution that safeguards communication against both classical and quantum computing threats.
This paper proposes a lightweight and high-security identity authentication technique for satellite signaling, enhanced through the integration of a Quantum Random Number Generator (QRNG). By compressing the key length to 128 bits, the method reduces authentication latency to approximately 100 µs on commonly used satellite MCUs, while introducing quantum-origin entropy to address the inherent trade-offs among security, bandwidth, power consumption, and latency in satellite communication systems. Without altering the essential communication functions or the signaling transparency of satellites, the scheme utilizes high-entropy quantum random numbers generated by the QRNG chip, combined with the SM3-based key derivation algorithm and the SM4 encryption algorithm, to achieve low-power and low-latency authentication. This design effectively eliminates the performance bottlenecks and security vulnerabilities associated with traditional pseudorandom number generators and significantly improves the system's security and reliability. Experimental results show that QRNG integration substantially reduces system latency and mitigates security threats such as man-in-the-middle attacks and unauthorized terminal replication, while also providing resistance to quantum-computing-based attacks, thereby offering a robust security foundation for satellite communications in the emerging quantum computing era.
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.