The shift towards a quantum-secured future has driven the demand for more practical ways of protecting filesthat can add post-quantum cryptographic components without creating a massive increase in computational or storagedemands. This study proposes and tests a hybrid file-security approach combining a post-quantum key encapsulationmechanism and authenticated symmetric encryption for real-world file security. An experimental research design wasfollowed with the use of a valid subset of GovDocs1 corpus as the evaluation sample, and the files were stratified basedon the format, size and entropy characteristics. Three different architectures were designed, built and evaluated fordesign evolution from direct lattice-style architecture to standards-based hybrid architecture. Correctness, runtime, andciphertext expansion were used to measure performance and compared to other files of various types and datacharacteristics. The results demonstrate the capability of the final framework to retain the exact reconstruction of thefile and gain significantly in storage efficiency and execution time over previous model generations. A comparison ofperformance over different heterogeneous categories of files showed no significant difference, and overhead was seento be a consistent decreasing function of file size. The results show that a hybrid design that can provide quantumresistant key protection and efficient authenticated encryption can be used to provide practical post-quantum-ready filesecurity. The study offers an empirically supported framework for the security of files in a post-quantum era and offersa repeatable foundation for research into implementing it for deployment.
The shift towards a quantum-secured future has driven the demand for more practical ways of protecting filesthat can add post-quantum cryptographic components without creating a massive increase in computational or storagedemands. This study proposes and tests a hybrid file-security approach combining a post-quantum key encapsulationmechanism and authenticated symmetric encryption for real-world file security. An experimental research design wasfollowed with the use of a valid subset of GovDocs1 corpus as the evaluation sample, and the files were stratified basedon the format, size and entropy characteristics. Three different architectures were designed, built and evaluated fordesign evolution from direct lattice-style architecture to standards-based hybrid architecture. Correctness, runtime, andciphertext expansion were used to measure performance and compared to other files of various types and datacharacteristics. The results demonstrate the capability of the final framework to retain the exact reconstruction of thefile and gain significantly in storage efficiency and execution time over previous model generations. A comparison ofperformance over different heterogeneous categories of files showed no significant difference, and overhead was seento be a consistent decreasing function of file size. The results show that a hybrid design that can provide quantumresistant key protection and efficient authenticated encryption can be used to provide practical post-quantum-ready filesecurity. The study offers an empirically supported framework for the security of files in a post-quantum era and offersa repeatable foundation for research into implementing it for deployment.
The increasing reliance on cloud storage across sectors has made the protection of sensitive data a critical concern especially as advances in quantum computing threaten to break traditional public-key cryptographic systems. This growing vulnerability raises urgent questions about how to secure digital assets in a post-quantum future. To address this challenge, this study aims to design, implement, and evaluate a hybrid encryption framework that combines symmetric encryption for data confidentiality with quantum-resistant public-key algorithms for key management and digital signatures. The objective was to develop a secure and practical solution that can be readily adopted using open-source tools. The system was built in a Linux-based virtual environment using an S3-compatible object storage platform, integrated with quantum-safe cryptographic libraries, and automated through scripting. Performance testing was conducted using files ranging from 100 MB to 1 GB, with metrics such as encryption and decryption time, CPU usage, upload/download latency, and internet throughput analyzed. The results showed that while quantum-safe operations added some overhead, even large files could be securely processed in under two minutes with stable system performance and no data corruption. These findings confirm that hybrid encryption models can be deployed today without specialized hardware, offering a forward-compatible and robust approach to cloud security. This work contributes a tested and reproducible framework for early adoption of quantum-safe cryptography in real-world cloud environments.
The rapid development of quantum computing presents a substantial threat to traditional cryptographic algorithms, particularly those relying on mathematical problems such as integer factorization and elliptic curve operations. As a response, the cryptographic community has accelerated the design of post-quantum cryptographic schemes that can withstand attacks from both classical and quantum computers. However, many of these new schemes exhibit inherent trade-offs between performance, key sizes, and implementation complexity. To address this, we propose a novel hybrid cryptographic framework tailored for secure and efficient data transmission in future quantum-aware environments. The proposed system combines three algorithmic paradigms: a lattice-based encryption method for fast and lightweight data protection, a hash-based signature mechanism for authenticity, and a code-based key exchange method to ensure session confidentiality. This layered integration is designed to capitalize on each algorithm’s strengths while mitigating individual limitations. The system is implemented using modular components in a testbed simulating real-world deployments, and its performance is benchmarked across multiple metrics including encryption latency, signature generation time, key sizes, and throughput. Comparative results indicate that the hybrid approach outperforms monolithic schemes in critical areas such as execution time and cryptographic strength under quantum adversary models. The findings support the practicality of using multiple post-quantum primitives in tandem to build robust communication systems. This research contributes a realistic implementation and evaluation of post-quantum security models and highlights key directions for future research and standardization efforts as the global transition to quantum-safe infrastructure begins.
This paper presents the design, implementation, and evaluation of a hybrid encryption framework that combines quantum key distribution, specifically a simulated BB84 protocol, with AES-256 encryption. The system enables secure file encryption by leveraging quantum principles for key generation and classical cryptography for data protection. It introduces integrity validation mechanisms, including HMAC verification and optional post-quantum digital signatures, ensuring robustness even in the presence of quantum-capable adversaries. The entire architecture is implemented in Python, with modular components simulating quantum key exchange, encryption, and secure packaging. Experimental results include visual testing of various attack scenarios, such as key tampering, HMAC failure, and file corruption, demonstrating the effectiveness and resilience of the approach. The proposed solution serves as a practical foundation for quantum-aware cybersecurity systems.
With quantum computing nearing cryptographically relevant capabilities, classical file transfer systems face significant vulnerabilities, necessitating quantum-resistant solutions. This paper presents a hybrid architecture for secure file transfer, integrating a simulated BB84 quantum key distribution (QKD) protocol with adaptive encryption to achieve post-quantum security. The system intelligently selects one-time pad (OTP) cryptography for files up to 1MB, ensuring perfect secrecy, and AES-256-GCM for larger files, balancing efficiency and integrity, both using quantum-derived keys. Implemented in a TCP-based client-server framework, it employs a quantum key management module to maintain a pool of secure keys, with real-time error detection for eavesdropping. Experimental evaluation demonstrates robust key generation (error rate < 1% without eavesdropping, ~ 15% with interception), reliable encryption, and efficient transfers on standard hardware, eliminating the need for specialized quantum devices. This scalable, software-based solution advances quantum-enhanced protection for distributed file-sharing environments, addressing the urgent demand for practical post-quantum security.
Purpose: This study presents a comprehensive post-quantum cryptographic framework designed to secure Critical Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) against emerging quantum computing threats. Methodology: As traditional cryptographic methods become increasingly vulnerable, the proposed framework integrates post-quantum algorithms, hybrid cryptographic models, and a multi-layered architecture to ensure long-term data protection. The system is evaluated using key performance metrics such as latency, throughput, energy consumption, overhead, key size, and security strength. Additionally, an algorithm selection strategy is implemented to identify optimal cryptographic techniques. Findings: Simulation results demonstrate that classical models offer better efficiency, while post-quantum approaches provide stronger security at the cost of higher resource usage. The hybrid model effectively balances these trade-offs, delivering improved security with moderate performance impact. Unique Contribution to Theory, Policy and Practice: Overall, the framework provides a scalable, adaptable, and future-ready solution for protecting critical infrastructure in a rapidly evolving digital and quantum landscape.
The high growth rate of cloud storage companies has reshaped the digital management of data among individuals and companies. Nevertheless, the future of quantum computing spells a major danger to classical cryptographic algorithms like the RSA and the ECC which forms the backbone to the current cloud security infrastructures. In order to mitigate this new risk, this paper will present a new Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC)-based security architecture, customized to cloud storage application. The model combines lattice-based key encapsulation models and hash-based authentication models to provide long-term data confidentiality, integrity, and non-repudiation. The basic uniqueness of the offered model is its hybrid cryptographic implementation, which will have quantum-resilient key exchange, and a hardened hash-based signature verification as a single workflow of cloud security. This assimilation improves resistance to quantum-based attacks and retains viable computational efficiency. The evaluation of performance shows that the framework can be used in large-scale and distributed cloud systems since it has a well-balanced trade-off between high quantum resilience and controllable processing overheads. The suggested PQC scheme will create moderate overhead and high future-proof security, in comparison to the traditional crypto-systems. The paper portrays the strategic value of shifting towards quantum-resistant encryption systems to guarantee long-term data security in the post-quantum future.