The high pace of quantum computing development presents a serious risk to classical cryptographic systems like RSA and ECC in that quantum-resilient communication systems must be developed. The present paper will suggest Quantum Blind Signature-based Hybrid Quantum Key Distribution (QKD -QBS) to provide secure and authenticated quantum communication. The proposed architecture uses both BB84 and Decoy-State QKD protocols with Quantum Blind Signature (QBS) authentication layer in order to support quantum key generation and verification of entities in the same session. The framework is simulated and tested with IBM Qiskit Aer simulator in realistic channel noise situations. Quantum Bit Error Rate (QBER), Secret Key Retention (SKR), Quantum Entropy (H), Authentication Latency and Security Index (SI) are used as performance evaluation metrics. The experimental data show that the QBER is low (0.34%), SKR is high (92.4%), entropy is nearly ideal ($H=0.99$) with the lowest authentication latency (0.17 ms), which proves the fact that the integration of QBS does not reduce the efficiency of the key generation but the reliability of authentication. The hybrid framework proposed has information-theoretic security using the principles of quantum mechanics and strong resistance to impersonation, re-play and man in the middle attacks. The findings show that QKDQBS model provides a scalable and solid platform of next generation secure communication systems, such as IoT,$5 \mathrm{G} / 6 \mathrm{G}$networks, and cloud-based quantum systems.
The high pace of quantum computing development presents a serious risk to classical cryptographic systems like RSA and ECC in that quantum-resilient communication systems must be developed. The present paper will suggest Quantum Blind Signature-based Hybrid Quantum Key Distribution (QKD -QBS) to provide secure and authenticated quantum communication. The proposed architecture uses both BB84 and Decoy-State QKD protocols with Quantum Blind Signature (QBS) authentication layer in order to support quantum key generation and verification of entities in the same session. The framework is simulated and tested with IBM Qiskit Aer simulator in realistic channel noise situations. Quantum Bit Error Rate (QBER), Secret Key Retention (SKR), Quantum Entropy (H), Authentication Latency and Security Index (SI) are used as performance evaluation metrics. The experimental data show that the QBER is low (0.34%), SKR is high (92.4%), entropy is nearly ideal (H=0.99) with the lowest authentication latency (0.17 ms), which proves the fact that the integration of QBS does not reduce the efficiency of the key generation but the reliability of authentication. The hybrid framework proposed has information-theoretic security using the principles of quantum mechanics and strong resistance to impersonation, re-play and man in the middle attacks. The findings show that QKDQBS model provides a scalable and solid platform of next generation secure communication systems, such as IoT,5G/6Gnetworks, and cloud-based quantum systems.
Quantum computing threatens traditional cryptographic systems based on integer factorization and discrete logarithm problems. This paper proposes a hybrid secure communication framework integrating Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) with Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) for authentication. The BB84 protocol is used for quantum key generation, while CRYSTALS-Dilithium signatures secure the classical communication channel. A Python-based simulator models photon transmission, Quantum Bit Error Rate (QBER), intercept-resend attacks, and authentication verification. Results show that QBER increases proportionally with eavesdropping probability, enabling reliable attack detection. The integration of QKD secrecy with PQC authentication ensures both confidentiality and integrity. Performance evaluation demonstrates that the additional latency introduced by PQC authentication remains within acceptable limits. The proposed hybrid framework provides a scalable and quantum-resistant solution suitable for next-generation secure communication systems.
Quantum computing threatens traditional cryptographic systems based on integer factorization and discrete logarithm problems. This paper proposes a hybrid secure communication framework integrating Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) with Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) for authentication. The BB84 protocol is used for quantum key generation, while CRYSTALS-Dilithium signatures secure the classical communication channel. A Python-based simulator models photon transmission, Quantum Bit Error Rate (QBER), intercept-resend attacks, and authentication verification. Results show that QBER increases proportionally with eavesdropping probability, enabling reliable attack detection. The integration of QKD secrecy with PQC authentication ensures both confidentiality and integrity. Performance evaluation demonstrates that the additional latency introduced by PQC authentication remains within acceptable limits. The proposed hybrid framework provides a scalable and quantum-resistant solution suitable for next-generation secure communication systems.
Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) is a pioneering development in secure communication, an information-theoretic secure communications protocol that is founded on quantum mechanics. However, the effectiveness of such systems which safeguard the classical communication mediums against interception and impersonation depends on the strength of the authentication mechanisms that are used in the QKD systems. The proposed study is Hybrid Quantum Authentication Framework that is based on a combination of Wegman-Carter authentication, Quantum Digital Signature (QDS), and Post-quantum Cryptography (PQC) to counter new threats of Man-in-the-Middle (MITM), replay, and key exhaustion attacks. Based on the Quantum Encryption Dataset retrieved on the Kaggle platform, the framework was experimentally tested following the dataset augmentation to incorporate the authentication parameters and simulated attack labels. The results of the experiment prove that the hybrid model proposed can attain an authentication accuracy of 98.6%, which is significantly higher than that of standalone methods, MISM and replay attack detection rates of 99 and 98, respectively. The architecture lowers the key consumption by more than 40 percent, keeps the latency at 1.28 ms and the throughput at 92 percent, proving the scalability and computational efficiency of the architecture. Comparable performance and scalability studies also indicate that the model remains highly reliable as the size of the network increases with little growth in the latency. Generally, the suggested hybrid solution is robust, flexible and effective authentication of QKD networks and a viable solution in the next-generation quantum-safe communications infrastructure that can withstand classical and quantum attackers.
Secure communication has become essential due to the rapid increase in cyber-attacks and data security threats in modern networks. Traditional communication systems mainly rely on classical security methods, which may become vulnerable to advanced attacks. Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) improves secure communication by generating cryptographic keys using quantum principles, making key interception extremely difficult. In this work, a Quantum Random Number Generator (QRNG) is integrated with classical communication to develop a hybrid quantum-classical communication framework. The QRNG generates highly random bits that improve authentication, randomness, and key security. The proposed system compares three QKD protocols: BB84, B92, and E91 using different bit sizes of 8000, 10000, and 13000 bits. The protocols are evaluated using important metrics such as QBER, key rate, entropy, erasure rate, throughput, and correlation. Experimental results show that all protocols achieved entropy values close to 1 and correlation values near zero, indicating strong randomness and secure key generation. Among the evaluated protocols, E91 achieved lower QBER values and higher key rates, while BB84 showed stable and reliable performance. B92 produced comparatively higher error rates under similar conditions. The throughput remained nearly 278–281 bits/sec across all experiments. A ranking-based analysis confirmed that E91 provides the best balance between security, efficiency, and communication performance, making it suitable for future quantum-secure communication systems.
The existence of quantum computing presents an existential threat to the traditional cryptographic algorithms, and there is a need to create communication mechanisms that are fundamentally secure. In this regard, the concept of Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) provides information-theoretic security, which is founded on quantum mechanics. Nevertheless, conventional QKD protocols have serious shortcomings such as lack of distance in communication, vulnerability to side-channel attacks, and inability to support the large-scale heterogeneous network. We suggest that HQNet-QKD a Hybrid Quantum Key Distribution framework can help solve these issues by offering a more secure, scalable and future-proof key exchange framework in hybrid classical-quantum networks. To support multi-layered security, the proposed architecture is a network ensuring the smoothness of decoy-state BB84, Measurement-Device-Independent QKD (MDI-QKD), entanglement/twin-field-based QKD with verifiable Secret Sharing (VSS) and Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC). It provides a complete methodology such as system architecture, mathematical modeling, and end-to-end key synthesis. When used over a distance of 300 km, simulation and testing have shown that HQNet-QKD can achieve up to2.7×higher secret key rate (SKR) than conventional methods, secret communication at 700 km and resilience to both quantum and classical attacks more than 96%. In addition, the framework guarantees forward secrecy, detector-side immunity, contextbound key derivation, and composability and thus resistant to current and future adversaries. It has a low-computational overhead modular design, making it trivial to deploy in a real world, in applications like quantum-secured 5G backbones, cloud data centers, critical infrastructure, and satellite-based communication systems. The findings make HQNet-QKD a new generation solution to quantum-safe secure communication and the first step towards the implementation of the quantum internet.
Quantum computing poses significant threats to conventional cryptographic techniques such as RSA and AES, motivating the need for quantum secure communication methods. Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) offers information theoretic security based on fundamental quantum principles. This paper presents a simulation-based analysis of well-known QKD protocols, namely BB84, B92, and E91, using the IBM Qiskit framework. Realistic quantum channel effects, including noise, decoherence, and eavesdropping, are modeled to evaluate protocol performance. Key metrics such as error rate, secret key generation, and security characteristics are analyzed and compared. The study highlights practical challenges in QKD implementation, including hardware limitations and channel losses, and discusses insights toward scalable and robust quantum communication systems. The results support the feasibility of QKD as a promising solution for secure communication in the quantum era.