The rapid expansion of the Internet of Things (IoT) has connected billions of devices, creating a global network that manages everything from smart homes to critical industrial infrastructure. However, this connectivity faces an existential threat: the rise of Quantum Computing. Standard encryption methods like RSA and ECC, which currently protect these devices, will be easily broken by future quantum computers using Shor's Algorithm. While the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has standardized new "Post-Quantum" algorithms (like Kyber and Dilithium), simply plugging them into small IoT devices is not easy. These new algorithms are often heavy, and IoT devices have very limited battery and processing power. This paper bridges this gap by proposing "PQ-IoT", a complete, end-to-end security framework designed specifically for the real-world constraints of IoT. Unlike previous studies that look at algorithms in isolation, we designed a unified system with three layers: (1) A robust Hybrid Cryptosystem (X25519 + Kyber-768) for secure servers, (2) A lightweight encryption module (Kyber-512) for battery-powered sensors, and (3) A fast authentication mechanism (ML-DSA-44) for gateways. We built a virtual laboratory using ARM64 emulation to test this framework. Our results show that the entire system is incredibly efficient, with encryption taking only 0.20 ms and verification taking 0.50 ms. This proves that we can secure the future of IoT without sacrificing performance.
The rapid expansion of the Internet of Things (IoT) has connected billions of devices, creating a global network that manages everything from smart homes to critical industrial infrastructure. However, this connectivity faces an existential threat: the rise of Quantum Computing. Standard encryption methods like RSA and ECC, which currently protect these devices, will be easily broken by future quantum computers using Shor's Algorithm. While the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has standardized new "Post-Quantum" algorithms (like Kyber and Dilithium), simply plugging them into small IoT devices is not easy. These new algorithms are often heavy, and IoT devices have very limited battery and processing power. This paper bridges this gap by proposing "PQ-IoT", a complete, end-to-end security framework designed specifically for the real-world constraints of IoT. Unlike previous studies that look at algorithms in isolation, we designed a unified system with three layers: (1) A robust Hybrid Cryptosystem (X25519 + Kyber-768) for secure servers, (2) A lightweight encryption module (Kyber-512) for battery-powered sensors, and (3) A fast authentication mechanism (ML-DSA-44) for gateways. We built a virtual laboratory using ARM64 emulation to test this framework. Our results show that the entire system is incredibly efficient, with encryption taking only 0.20 ms and verification taking 0.50 ms. This proves that we can secure the future of IoT without sacrificing performance.
The expansion of Internet of Things (IoT) ecosystems has created a high demand for secure cryptographic solutions, even in a future with quantum computing capabilities. Traditional mappings, such as RSA or Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC), are expected to be broken by Shor's algorithm, driving the realization of post-quantum cryptography (PQC). This work presents a simulative and prototypical framework for assessing PQC integration in IoT communication. With the liboqs library and NS-3 network simulator, along with the Python scripting language, we implement both NIST-standardized algorithms, such as Dilithium (for signatures) and Kyber (for key encapsulation), as well as the classical RSA and ECC baselines. IoT networks of 50-500 virtual nodes are simulated based on IEEE 802.15.4/6LoWPAN with RPL routing. Performance attributes, including encryption/decryption time, key length, packet delivery ratio, latency, and energy consumption, are collected and evaluated. Preliminary results indicate that PQC incurs additional handshake and key overhead, but is relatively practical, with an average overhead of15−25msper processed secure transaction. The effort provides a replicable testbed, showcasing what we consider the best and worst PQC has to offer for resource-constrained IoT. Targeted at master's students and researchers, this book provides an applied approach to investigate quantum-resilient security in IoT. It encourages future expansion to hardware-in-the-loop validation on embedded devices.
The rapid expansion of Internet of Things (IoT) ecosystems has increased the need for communication mechanisms that can remain secure against emerging computational threats. Conventional asymmetric cryptographic schemes, including RSA and Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC), are vulnerable to advances in quantum computing due to the ability of Shor's algorithm to undermine their underlying mathematical assumptions. To address these challenges, this paper presents PQ-IoT SecureCom, a quantum-resistant communication framework built using NIST-standardized post-quantum cryptographic primitives. The proposed framework employs ML-KEM (derived from Kyber) for secure key encapsulation and ML-DSA (derived from Dilithium) for digital authentication, combined with AESGCM to ensure data confidentiality and integrity. Additional security mechanisms, including PQC-based device certification, periodic session key updates, and nonce-based timestamp validation, are incorporated to mitigate replay and impersonation attacks. The framework also supports a hybrid operational mode that enables performance comparison between classical and postquantum cryptographic schemes. System behavior is monitored using a real-time dashboard that records cryptographic overhead, communication metrics, and detected security events. Experimental evaluation shows that ML-KEM and ML-DSA significantly enhance security while introducing computational overhead that remains acceptable for contemporary IoT devices. Through automated attack simulations and detailed event logging, PQ-IoT SecureCom demonstrates the practical feasibility of deploying scalable post-quantum security in IoT communication systems.
The rapid growth of the Internet of Things (IoT) has connected billions of smart devices across healthcare, transportation, industrial automation, and smart home environments. While IoT has enhanced automation and data-driven decision-making, its widespread deployment has also increased the risk of cyberattacks. Conventional public-key cryptographic algorithms such as RSA and Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) are vulnerable to future quantum computing attacks, particularly those based on Shor's algorithm. This paper proposes a Quantum-Resistant Cryptographic Framework (QRCF) for secure IoT communication using lattice-based cryptography integrated with lightweight authentication and efficient key management. The framework is designed to meet the computational limitations of IoT devices while ensuring long-term confidentiality and integrity. Performance evaluation demonstrates improvements in security resilience, authentication efficiency, and communication reliability compared with traditional cryptographic approaches. The proposed framework offers a scalable and future-ready solution for protecting IoT ecosystems in the post-quantum era.
The Internet of Things (IoT) is a growing area of technology and has been identified as a key tool for enhancing industries' operation and performance. As IoT deployment rises worldwide, so do the threats; hence, security, especially authen-tication and integrity, is a critical consideration. One significant future threat is quantum attacks, which can only be defeated using Post-Quantum (PQ) cryptosystems. New Digital Signature (DS) standards for PQ security have been selected by the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). However, IoT comes with its own technical challenges from the constrained resources allocated to sensors and other similar devices. As a consequence, the use and suitability of these PQ schemes for IoT remains an open research area. In this paper, we identify an IoT architecture built from three distinct layers represented by a server, a gateway and an IoT device, respectively. We first test PQ DS scheme standards and compare them with current standards in order to assess their practicality for use in this architecture to provide authentication and integrity. Then, we select the most suitable PQ scheme at each layer according to the features of the corresponding device (server, gateway, IoT device) and the security property (authentication, integrity). We finally carry out experiments on our selection and provide an architectural model for making IoT communication and interaction PQ secure.
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 present paper presents QUBE-Crypto, a new authentication system providing an integration of three fundamental security mechanisms: Quantum Key Distribution (QKD), Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC), and blockchain. The mechanism was implemented for Internet of Things (IoT) and for this purpose, outstanding performance results were obtained. The testing on ESP32 microcontrollers is fully authenticated in 3.5 seconds us- ing only 45 mJ energy. The framework is Dilithium-5—an NIST-standardized post-quantum signature algorithm which offers 128-bits security. The blockchain offers distributed verification of identities without centralized trust with consensus latency of 8.2 seconds. While post-quantum and quantum defenses are integrated, the re- sults show that QUBE-Crypto achieves comparable performance to traditional systems while ensuring security through quantum-resistant methods that integrate identity management on a blockchain. The whole framework is suitable for resource-limited applications such as smart home sensors, industrial IoT, and medical instruments. This research offers empirical demonstration of quantum-safe authentication on embedded devices and provides a prototype for the post-quantum IoT security era.