With billions of resource-constrained devices exchanging sensitive data over heterogeneous networks, the fast-growing expansion of the Internet of Things (IoT) has heightened the concerns of security. In this regard, classical blockchain, despite its promise, has two main disadvantages: it cannot scale properly under massive IoT traffic and it can be vulnerable to quantum adversaries. This work attempts to fill these gaps through an analytical and empirical review of thirty recent models using blockchain, post-quantum cryptography, and quantum-native approaches. Conducted under the PRISMA guidelines, this review systematically examines how its models perform with respect to common security metrics: delay, complexity, throughput, security efficiency, and packet delivery ratio. The findings of the study suggest that regular adaptive blockchains with dynamic block size optimization and lightweight hashing consistently achieve high throughput (>900 Tx/sec) and packet delivery ratios (>95%) in IoT environments making them the most feasible solution in near term. In contrast, post-quantum models, using hybrid encryption and an optimized SIKE provide significantly enhanced resilience (security efficiency in the range of 92% to 96%) while introducing computational overhead unsuited for low-power devices. The frameworks of quantum blockchain, utilizing QKD-based authentication and heap-driven key distribution, provide unsurpassed security efficiency (>95%) but stay largely constrained experimentally at this stage. The synthesis from the empirical study suggests a multi-layered approach, consisting of immediate implementations of lightweight adaptive models, mid-term enhancements through post-quantum cryptography optimization, and a long-term aim of deployment of full quantum blockchain architecture. Such insights would prove pivotal in IoT sectors with real-time requirements like health, smart grids, and industrial automation, where balancing scalability, efficiency, and quantum resilience is of utmost importance. Hence, the work provides an avenue for foundational mapping of advancement in quantum-secure IoT ecosystems.
With billions of resource-constrained devices exchanging sensitive data over heterogeneous networks, the fast-growing expansion of the Internet of Things (IoT) has heightened the concerns of security. In this regard, classical blockchain, despite its promise, has two main disadvantages: it cannot scale properly under massive IoT traffic and it can be vulnerable to quantum adversaries. This work attempts to fill these gaps through an analytical and empirical review of thirty recent models using blockchain, post-quantum cryptography, and quantum-native approaches. Conducted under the PRISMA guidelines, this review systematically examines how its models perform with respect to common security metrics: delay, complexity, throughput, security efficiency, and packet delivery ratio. The findings of the study suggest that regular adaptive blockchains with dynamic block size optimization and lightweight hashing consistently achieve high throughput (>900 Tx/sec) and packet delivery ratios (>95%) in IoT environments making them the most feasible solution in near term. In contrast, post-quantum models, using hybrid encryption and an optimized SIKE provide significantly enhanced resilience (security efficiency in the range of 92% to 96%) while introducing computational overhead unsuited for low-power devices. The frameworks of quantum blockchain, utilizing QKD-based authentication and heap-driven key distribution, provide unsurpassed security efficiency (>95%) but stay largely constrained experimentally at this stage. The synthesis from the empirical study suggests a multi-layered approach, consisting of immediate implementations of lightweight adaptive models, mid-term enhancements through post-quantum cryptography optimization, and a long-term aim of deployment of full quantum blockchain architecture. Such insights would prove pivotal in IoT sectors with real-time requirements like health, smart grids, and industrial automation, where balancing scalability, efficiency, and quantum resilience is of utmost importance. Hence, the work provides an avenue for foundational mapping of advancement in quantum-secure IoT ecosystems.
The rapid deployment of Internet of Things (IoT) devices across critical infrastructure’s sectors such as healthcare, transportation, and smart cities brings unprecedented security challenges; particularly as quantum computing threatens the classical cryptography. This systematic review analyzes IoT security in relation to post-quantum cryptography (PQC), highlighting vulnerabilities, evolving threat, and cryptographic countermeasures. Using the PRISMA 2020 protocol, our work employed a rigorous and reproducible search strategy, where the initial Boolean query, ((“IoT” OR “Internet of Things”) AND (“Cryptography” OR “Encryption Scheme”) AND “Quantum”), was developed and effectively customized for nine reputable databases to maximize the coverage. From an initial pool of 5,151 publications dated between 2020 and February 12, 2025, a content-based screening was conducted at the title, abstract, and full-text levels. This meticulous filtering resulted in a final corpus of 161 studies deemed relevant for in-depth analysis and synthesis. Then, we categorize and analyze PQC algorithms by vulnerabilities, suitability for resource-constrained IoT environments, performance evaluation, scalability, and quantum resilience. We also identify key limitations in implementations of current cryptographic schemes, including issues in key management and authentication; and outline major challenges such as resource constraints of IoT devices, environmental noise, quantum reversible computing, security vulnerabilities, quantum hardware constraints, and complexities in integration. To counter these threats, we propose a framework of PQC countermeasures and illustrated by a hypothetical case study of PQC adoption in a real-world IoT system. Finally, we propose future research directions in lightweight PQC, hybrid frameworks, improved key management and distribution, addressing quantum distance matters, countering quantum threats, and standardization for IoT environments.
The rapid digitalisation of healthcare has accelerated the adoption of telemedicine, Electronic Health Records (EHRs), and the Internet of Medical Things (IoMT), transforming healthcare delivery into a highly interconnected and patient-centric ecosystem. In response to growing concerns about data security, privacy, and interoperability, blockchain technology has emerged as a promising solution for its decentralization, immutability, auditability, and secure access control. However, many existing blockchain infrastructures rely on classical cryptographic primitives, including RSA- or elliptic-curve-based public-key mechanisms and cryptographic hash functions such as SHA-256, whose relevant security properties may be affected by sufficiently powerful quantum attacks. This review investigates the convergence of blockchain and quantum technologies to address emerging security threats in e-health systems. A structured literature review was conducted in accordance with the PRISMA 2020 guidelines using the IEEE Xplore, PubMed, ACM Digital Library, Google Scholar, and Crossref databases, covering studies published between January 2018 and June 2025. Following a systematic screening and eligibility-verification process, 57 relevant studies were selected and analyzed. The review evaluates quantum-resilient security mechanisms, including Quantum Key Distribution (QKD), Quantum Random Number Generation (QRNG), and NIST-standardized Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) algorithms specified in FIPS 203, FIPS 204, and FIPS 205. Based on the identified research gaps in the state of the art, this study also proposes a novel four-layer Quantum-Blockchain Security Architecture (QBSA) designed for secure healthcare environments. The analysis further reveals significant challenges associated with lightweight PQC deployment for IoMT devices, interoperability standardization, quantum hardware limitations, and regulatory compliance in cross-institutional healthcare systems. The findings highlight the necessity of integrating quantum-resilient cryptographic frameworks with blockchain infrastructures to support the development of secure, scalable, and patient-centric next-generation e-health ecosystems.
The rapid expansion of the Internet of Things (IoT) has introduced unprecedented cybersecurity challenges, as traditional cryptographic methods struggle to provide both efficiency and quantum resistance in resource-constrained environments. This research introduces Adaptive Quantum Cryptography (AQC), a novel security framework that integrates Quantum Key Distribution (QKD), Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC), Quantum Random Number Generators (QRNGs), and AI-driven dynamic adaptation to safeguard IoT networks against evolving cyber threats. Unlike classical encryption techniques such as RSA and ECC, which are vulnerable to quantum attacks, AQC leverages quantum mechanical principles—such as superposition, entanglement, and the no-cloning theorem—to ensure provably secure key exchange and data encryption. The proposed AQC system dynamically adjusts cryptographic protocols based on real-time network conditions, computational resources, and threat intelligence, optimizing security without imposing excessive overhead. Experimental evaluations demonstrate that AQC achieves a 70% improvement in key exchange efficiency, a 50% reduction in computational load, and a 95% resilience rate against quantum attacks compared to conventional encryption methods. Additionally, the integration of QRNGs enhances cryptographic key entropy, while AI-driven anomaly detection enables proactive threat mitigation. This framework is particularly suited for next-generation IoT applications, including smart grids, autonomous vehicles, and industrial automation, where security, scalability, and energy efficiency are critical. By combining quantum-resistant algorithms with adaptive security mechanisms, AQC provides forward secrecy, resistance to quantum adversaries, and robust authentication, ensuring long-term protection for IoT ecosystems in the post-quantum era. The findings underscore AQC’s potential as a foundational security architecture for future quantum-safe IoT networks.
The impending realization of quantum computing is a threat to the underlying security model of traditional cryptographic infrastructure, especially on the one based on Internet of Things (IoT) and edge computing setups. The post quantum cryptography (PQC) provides quantum resistant protocols that ensure quantum security against a combination of both classical and future quantum attackers, but adopting this technology in edge IoT ecosystems faces serious challenges in terms of resource limitations of low power devices. The paper suggests a performance-security model of PQC in edge IoT explaining the tradeoff between cryptographic robustness and operation efficiency. This model is a synthesis of empirical research in the recent field which looking at the performance of PQC algorithms on limited hardware, the integration issue with lightweight communication protocols, and strategic options such as algorithm optimization, hardware acceleration, hybrid cryptographic schemes, and offloading methods. The objectives of these strategies are to achieve the acceptable latency and energy consumption with the guarantee of quantum resilient security. The framework proposed helps decision making among researchers and practitioners who aim at implementing PQC on distributed resource limited IoT networks. Lastly, the paper also determines the research gaps and future directions to the achievement of scalable, efficient, and robust PQC enabled edge IoT ecosystems.
The impending realization of quantum computing is a threat to the underlying security model of traditional cryptographic infrastructure, especially on the one based on Internet of Things (IoT) and edge computing setups. The post quantum cryptography (PQC) provides quantum resistant protocols that ensure quantum security against a combination of both classical and future quantum attackers, but adopting this technology in edge IoT ecosystems faces serious challenges in terms of resource limitations of low power devices. The paper suggests a performance-security model of PQC in edge IoT explaining the tradeoff between cryptographic robustness and operation efficiency. This model is a synthesis of empirical research in the recent field which looking at the performance of PQC algorithms on limited hardware, the integration issue with lightweight communication protocols, and strategic options such as algorithm optimization, hardware acceleration, hybrid cryptographic schemes, and offloading methods. The objectives of these strategies are to achieve the acceptable latency and energy consumption with the guarantee of quantum resilient security. The framework proposed helps decision making among researchers and practitioners who aim at implementing PQC on distributed resource limited IoT networks. Lastly, the paper also determines the research gaps and future directions to the achievement of scalable, efficient, and robust PQC enabled edge IoT ecosystems.
The rapid expansion and inherent resource limitations of Internet of Things (IoT) devices necessitate robust, future-proof security solutions, particularly against sophisticated data integrity threats and the imminent risk of quantum computing attacks. This paper provides a systematic literature review (SLR) of the architectural integration of blockchain with quantum technologies (quantum key distribution (QKD) and post-quantum cryptography (PQC)) for a two-stage trust model in IoT communication. This review summarizes existing methods and answers three key research questions. The results show that permissioned blockchains are primarily used for trust management to ensure the non-repudiation and immutability of data. Notably, there is a clear dividing line in the application of quantum solutions: QKD is particularly suitable for securing high-capacity backbone communications (server gateways), whereas PQC (especially lattice-based algorithms such as Kyber and Dilithium) is the mainstream resource-efficient solution for IoT terminals. However, this integration also has significant drawbacks, such as high latency due to blockchain consensus mechanisms and increased memory and CPU requirements from PQC implementations. The main challenge is the lack of standardized protocols for integrating QKD key management with smart contract functionality. This review provides a comprehensive analysis of current architectures, assesses their performance trade-offs, and outlines a clear research agenda aimed at developing standardized hybrid protocols for future trusted IoT systems and optimizing resource-efficient, quantum-resistant consensus mechanisms.