Post-quantum hybrid security mechanism for MIMO systems

Abstract

In this paper, we propose a post-quantum crosslayer key agreement scheme that is robust against Man in the Middle (MitM) attack and the wide deployment of quantum computers. Our security mechanism combines physical layer and cryptographic security techniques to provide best effort security. Physical layer security usually has no assumption on the eavesdropper's, Eve, computational power, nor on Eve's available information. It is unbreakable, provable, and quantifiable. However, physical layer security is limited, hard to prove, and researchers usually consider a passive attacker model. Alternatively, traditional cryptography has worked well in practice, but it is based on the assumption of limited computational power at Eve and it is vulnerable to the large-scale implementation of quantum computers.