Abstract The healthcare sector faces growing threats from emerging quantum technologies that may compromise conventional encryption systems. Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) has become a promising solution to achieve information-theoretic security for medical data transmission, storage, and sharing. This review summarizes QKD principles, its applications in EHRs and IoMT, and its integration with post-quantum cryptography (PQC). We highlight challenges in QKD infrastructure scalability and interoperability , and explore future directions like satellite-based quantum networks.
Abstract The healthcare sector faces growing threats from emerging quantum technologies that may compromise conventional encryption systems. Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) has become a promising solution to achieve information-theoretic security for medical data transmission, storage, and sharing. This review summarizes QKD principles, its applications in EHRs and IoMT, and its integration with post-quantum cryptography (PQC). We highlight challenges in QKD infrastructure scalability and interoperability , and explore future directions like satellite-based quantum networks.
The Internet of Things (IoT) has transformed healthcare, facilitating remote patient monitoring, enhanced medication adherence, and chronic disease management. However, this interconnected ecosystem faces significant vulnerabilities with the advent of quantum computing, which threatens to break existing encryption standards protecting sensitive patient data in IoT-enabled medical devices. This chapter examines the quantum threat to healthcare IoT security, highlighting the potential impacts of compromised encryption, including privacy breaches, device failures, and manipulated medical records. It introduces post-quantum cryptography (PQC) and quantum-resistant techniques like quantum key distribution (QKD), addressing their application in resource-constrained healthcare IoT devices such as pacemakers, monitoring tools, and telemedicine systems. The chapter further explores the challenges of integrating these solutions and reviews global efforts in mitigating quantum risks, offering insights into suitable PQC primitives for various healthcare use cases.
The emergence and advancement of technologies such as the Internet of Medical Things (IoMT), Electronic Health Records (EHR), and Smart Medical Gate (SMG) have remarkably changed patient care practices. With the digitization of healthcare services, concerns regarding data security have increased. These systems face increasing risks due to cyber threats and the advances of quantum computing technology. For instance, Peter Shor’s quantum algorithms are predicted to affect the integrity and confidentiality of sensitive medical data. This puts classical (non-quantum) cryptographic systems such as RSA (Ron Rivest, Adi Shamir, and Leonard Adleman) and ECC (Elliptic Curve Cryptography) at risk. This work proposes an integrated high-dimensional quantum key distribution (HD-QKD) infrastructure for secure medical data transmission across IoMT, EHR, and SMG ecosystems. It introduces a cloud-based Central EHR/Cloud Server for key management, along with edge Quantum Security Gateways. The system employs qudit encoding (d > 2) over a 50 km optical fiber link with 12-dB attenuation. Its edge-centric design ensures noise resilience and delivers a high information rate per photon. It also provides low-latency security against quantum threats while maintaining compatibility with existing fiber networks through wavelength division multiplexing. Simulations validate the system's potential, achieving secure key rates of 2.5 megabits per second between medical structures-double the rate of prior qubit-based Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) protocols-demonstrating superior scalability and performance for real-time healthcare applications.
The rapid digitization of healthcare has greatly improved the efficiency and accessibility of medical services, but it has also brought significant vulnerabilities in data security. As quantum computing progresses, it threatens to render traditional encryption methods obsolete, potentially exposing complex patient data to unprecedented cyber extortions. Quantum cryptography, leveraging the philosophies of quantum mechanism, finds a robust solution to these challenges by creating fundamentally secure communication channels. This chapter delves into the implementation and impact of quantum cryptography on securing patient data in the healthcare sector, focusing on the tangible outcomes of such integration. We start by examining the current landscape of healthcare data security, emphasizing the weaknesses of conventional encryption in the aspect of quantum developments. The core technology discussed is quantum key distribution (QKD), which employs quantum entanglement and superposition to create secure encryption keys. These keys are virtually immune to eavesdropping, as any interception attempt disturbs the quantum state and becomes detectable. Our analysis details the practical steps for implementing QKD in healthcare systems. This includes the deployment of quantum cryptographic hardware, integration with existing IT infrastructure, and the establishment of secure quantum communication channels. We discuss the requirements for ensuring compatibility and the necessary adjustments to current encryption protocols to accommodate QKD. The chapter highlights the expected outcomes of implementing quantum cryptography in healthcare. Enhanced data security is the foremost benefit, with patient data becoming highly resistant to both current and future cyber threats. We quantify the improvements in data integrity, confidentiality, and availability, illustrating how quantum cryptography mitigates threats related with information cracks and unlawful access.
Quantum computers are capable of solving problems that classical computers cannot, particularly in the realm of cryptographic algorithms such as RSA, DSA, and ECC. Post quantum cryptography refers classical cryptographic algorithm that are designed to secure sensitive data. This research explores the application of post-quantum cryptographic techniques in healthcare systems, with a specific focus on integrating Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) with Genetic Algorithms (GA) for enhanced key optimization. As quantum computing advances, traditional cryptographic systems employed in health care are more and more vulnerable to being broken. Security of sensitive patient information—like electronic health records (EHRs), diagnostic data, and personally identifiable information— requires strong solutions that can handle future quantum attacks. Post-quantum cryptography (PQC) provides a hopeful way forward by employing quantum computer-resistant algorithms. This paper investigates the deployment of PQC methods—e.g., lattice-based, hash-based, and multivariate polynomial cryptography—inside healthcare systems to improve data confidentiality, integrity, and availability. It assesses the weaknesses of present encryption technologies and introduces PQC as a necessary update to protect patient information from sophisticated cyberattacks. The study also addresses the interoperability, computational overhead, and infrastructure readiness challenges of implementing PQC in healthcare. By implementing quantum-resilient cryptographic protocols, healthcare facilities are able to future-proof data protection practices and guarantee the safeguarding of patient data in an era governed by quantum computing.
As wireless networks become increasingly integral to modern communication infrastructures, the need for robust security mechanisms to protect sensitive information has never been more critical. Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) presents a revolutionary approach to secure communications by leveraging the principles of quantum mechanics to ensure the theoretical unbreakability of cryptographic keys. This study provides a comprehensive review of the current status of QKD technologies within the context of wireless networks, utilizing secondary data sources to analyze recent advancements, implementations, and challenges. The paper begins by outlining the fundamental principles of QKD and its superiority over classical cryptographic methods. It then examines recent developments in QKD protocols and their adaptability to wireless environments, highlighting successful case studies and experimental trials. Key challenges, including technological limitations, integration hurdles with existing network infrastructures, and cost considerations, are discussed in detail. The review also explores emerging trends and innovations, such as hybrid QKD systems and satellite-based implementations, which promise to expand the applicability and feasibility of QKD in wireless networks. Finally, the study delineates future prospects and potential research directions, emphasizing the need for interdisciplinary collaboration to overcome existing limitations and fully realize the potential of QKD in enhancing wireless network security.
As digital communication continues to expand across critical infrastructures, ensuring data security has become more challenging in the face of advancing computational capabilities, especially with the anticipated rise of quantum computers. Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) presents a revolutionary approach to secure communications by leveraging the fundamental principles of quantum mechanics, such as superposition and entanglement, to enable the secure exchange of cryptographic keys. Unlike classical encryption methods that rely on computational complexity, QKD ensures unconditional security, as any attempt to intercept the key disturbs the quantum state, revealing the presence of eavesdroppers. This paper explores the current developments in QKD protocols, including BB84 and E91, as well as practical challenges in implementation, such as distance limitations and hardware requirements. Furthermore, it discusses recent advancements in satellite-based QKD, integrated photonics, and quantum networks, highlighting their potential to reshape the landscape of secure global communication. The integration of QKD into future communication infrastructure is positioned to be a cornerstone of post-quantum cryptography, making it a vital technology in the era of quantum computing.