Quantum Attacks Research Articles

Agile Acceleration of Stateful Hash-based Signatures in Hardware

With the development of large-scale quantum computers, the current landscape of asymmetric cryptographic algorithms will change dramatically. Today’s standards like RSA, DSA, and ElGamal will no longer provide sufficient security against quantum attackers and need to be replaced with novel algorithms. In the face of these developments, NIST has already started a standardization process for new Key Encapsulation Mechanisms (KEMs) and Digital Signatures (DSs). Moreover, NIST has recommended the two stateful Hash-Based Signatures (HBSs) schemes XMSS and LMS for use in devices with a long expected lifetime and limited capabilities for maintenance. Both schemes are also standardized by the IETF. In this work, we present the first agile hardware implementation that supports both LMS and XMSS. Our design can instantiate either LMS, XMSS, or both schemes using a simple configuration setting. Leveraging the vast similarities of the two schemes, the hardware utilization of the agile design increases by 20% in LUTs and only 3% in Flip Flops (FFs) over a standalone XMSS implementation. Furthermore, our approach can easily be configured with an arbitrary number of hash cores and accelerators for the one-time signatures for different application scenarios. We evaluate our implementation on the Xilinx Artix-7 FPGA platform, which is the recommended target for PQC implementations by NIST. We explore potential tradeoffs in the design space and compare our results to previous work in this field.

Quantum Implementation of AIM: Aiming for Low-Depth

Security vulnerabilities in the symmetric-key primitives of a cipher can undermine the overall security claims of the cipher. With the rapid advancement of quantum computing in recent years, there is an increasing effort to evaluate the security of symmetric-key cryptography against potential quantum attacks. This paper focuses on analyzing the quantum attack resistance of AIM, a symmetric-key primitive used in the AIMer digital signature scheme. We present the first quantum circuit implementation of AIM and estimate its complexity (such as qubit count, gate count, and circuit depth) with respect to Grover’s search algorithm. For Grover’s key search, the most important optimization metric is depth, especially when considering parallel search. Our implementation gathers multiple methods for a low-depth quantum circuit of AIM in order to reduce the Toffoli depth and full depth (such as the Karatsuba multiplication and optimization of inner modules; Mer, LinearLayer).

A survey on lattice‐based security and authentication schemes for smart‐grid networks in the post‐quantum era

SummaryThe present scenario witnesses “the second quantum revolution,” which has enabled the development of revolutionary novel quantum tools. Quantum computing endeavors to establish higher computing standards that can potentially solve complex structures. Post‐quantum cryptography (PQC) has emerged as one of the new domains of cryptography, which is resilient to quantum attacks owing to the revolution in quantum computing. To ensure quantum security, the lattice‐based cryptosystem (LB‐cryptosystem) is one of the promising tools of PQC to address quantum‐based threats. The traditional security algorithms, such as RSA and Diffie–Hellman (DH), are strong enough to resist present security threats. However, it has been predicted that quantum technologies have the capability to break the security of most traditional algorithms whose security is based on prime factorization and DH‐type hard problems. Therefore, research is currently focused on addressing the security and privacy threats by using LB‐cryptosystems to secure various applications, organizations' data, and information infrastructure in the quantum era. The purpose of this article is to investigate recent advances in LB‐cryptosystems that may allow the design of secure models for smart‐grid networks (SGNs) against existing and future quantum attacks. SGNs have been explored as the bi‐directional assimilation of communication in terms of electricity generation, transmission, allocation, and utilization. This survey provides a comprehensive overview of LB‐cryptosystems, as well as their potential applications in securing SGNs. Lastly, the article summarizes the various PQC primitives, NIST selected algorithms, open‐source tools along with their packages, and various PQC industrial initiatives, and also compares traditional cryptographic schemes with other PQC.

Performance evaluation of a quantum-resistant Blockchain: a comparative study with Secp256k1 and Schnorr

Popular Secp256k1 and Schnorr algorithms offer strong security in current Blockchains. However, they are vulnerable to quantum attacks. To solve this problem, several quantum-resistant algorithms have been proposed. However, the performance evaluations and tangible analyses of these algorithms on current Blockchains have not been studied yet. In this context, a performance analysis of quantum-resistant algorithms on a Blockchain can provide valuable insight into the efficiency of quantum-resistant algorithms in real-world scenarios. To address this need, we prototyped and analyzed a quantum-resistant Blockchain using the Falcon algorithm. Falcon is selected because it provides smaller signature and key size compared to Crystals-Dilithium and Sphincs+. We then measured in real-time the key size, transaction signature size, and transaction verification time. The paper also discusses the potential scalability limitations of the proposed quantum-resistant Blockchain and suggests an approach to select quantum-resistant algorithms based on different Blockchain use cases. Our approach and benchmark results have implications for the future development and adoption of quantum-resistant Blockchains.

Flaw and amendment of Dharminder et al.'s authentication protocol for satellite communication

SummarySatellite communication is becoming an increasingly important component of the communication process, as all forms of communication are sent over open networks. As a result, there is an increase in the number of security concerns, and several protocols have been established with this consideration in mind. Recently, Dharminder et al. proposed a post‐quantum secure authentication protocol for satellite communication. The protocol is an improved version of Kumar and Garg's protocol. The authors claimed that the protocol resists the vulnerability of Kumar and Garg's protocol and provides post‐quantum security for satellite communication. Despite their claims, we have found that the protocol is vulnerable to a key mismatch attack and an offline dictionary attack. Further, we have improved Dharminder et al.'s proposed protocol that resists the key mismatch attack and offline dictionary attack and have provided the condition for the correctness of the improved protocol. Our formal security proof and implementation results demonstrate that the improved protocol is secure against quantum attacks.

XDRBG: A Proposed Deterministic Random Bit Generator Based on Any XOF

A deterministic random bit generator (DRBG) generates pseudorandom bits from an unpredictable seed, i.e., a seed drawn from any random source with sufficient entropy. The current paper formalizes a security notion for a DRBG, in which an attacker may make any legal sequence of requests to the DRBG and sometimes compromise the DRBG state, but should still not be able to distingush DRBG outputs from ideal random bits. The paper proposes XDRBG, a new DRBG based on any eXtendable Output Function (XOF) and proves the security of the XDRBG in the ideal-XOF model. The proven bounds are tight, as demonstrated by matching attacks. The paper also discusses the security of XDRBG against quantum attackers. Finally, the paper proposes concrete instantiations of XDRBG, employing either the SHAKE128 or the SHAKE256 XDRBG. Alternative instantiations suitable for lightweight applications can be based on ASCON.

QAKA: A novel quantum authentication and key agreement (QAKA) protocol using quantum entanglement for secure communication among IoT devices

AbstractThe constant evolution of the Internet of Things (IoT) concept involves the idea that all elements in the global network communication are reachable without the need for human intervention. In this context, the paramount concern is security, aiming to safeguard IoT communication against unauthorized access. According to the analysis, the security of the IoT communication framework relies on traditional cryptographic schemes like the RSA algorithm. Nevertheless, the latest developments in quantum computing and information processing pose a significant threat to these established schemes. Motivated by this fact, in this article, we proposed a novel quantum authentication and key agreement (QAKA) protocol that provides unconditional security against any classical and futuristic quantum threats. Our protocol ensures secure key agreement and mutual authentication based on quantum hashing with quantum passwords and quantum key distribution. The proposed scheme utilizes quantum teleportation and Greenberger–Horne–Zeilinger states for secure data transfer among entities. Our work is simulated using the Automated Validation of Internet Security Protocols and Applications tool to prove our protocol's formal correctness and security. The Burrows, Abadi, and Needham logic is applied to prove the goal of our protocol. Random oracle model for formal security analysis is presented in our work. Our protocol is also informally analyzed, considering the characteristics such as correctness, security against repudiation and the impossibility of cloning. The proposed protocol is compared with the related protocols in terms of various security features such as replay attacks, man‐in‐middle attacks and futuristic quantum attacks. Finally, the performance of the proposed protocol is presented, revealing superior efficacy when compared with classical authentication schemes and quantum protocols.

Exploring and reviewing the potential of quantum computing in enhancing cybersecurity encryption methods

As the landscape of cybersecurity continually evolves, traditional encryption methods face unprecedented challenges from the impending era of quantum computing. This paper undertakes a comprehensive exploration of the potential transformative impact that quantum computing could have on enhancing cybersecurity encryption methods. Commencing with an overview of quantum computing fundamentals, including the principles of quantum mechanics and key quantum properties, the paper delves into the disruptive power of Shor's algorithm. This algorithm, capable of exponentially faster factorization than classical counterparts, poses a significant threat to prevalent cryptographic techniques such as RSA and ECC. In response to the vulnerabilities exposed by quantum algorithms, the paper investigates the field of post-quantum cryptography, examining cryptographic algorithms designed to resist quantum attacks. Additionally, the study scrutinizes Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) as a potential solution for secure communication in a quantum environment, analyzing its strengths and limitations. The paper provides an updated survey of the current state of quantum computing, highlighting achievements, milestones, and a comparative analysis of existing quantum computing platforms. Subsequently, it assesses the potential impact of quantum computing on cybersecurity, addressing both its ability to fortify encryption and potential risks and vulnerabilities. Striking a balance between benefits and challenges, the research offers insights into the coexistence of quantum and classical cryptographic methods. Looking toward the future, the paper explores ongoing research and development in quantum computing, identifying challenges and ethical considerations. In conclusion, it synthesizes key findings, emphasizing the implications for the future of cybersecurity and advocating for continued research to ensure the development of resilient encryption methods in the quantum era.

Analyzing the Impact of Quantum Computing on Current Encryption Techniques

As the field of quantum computing progresses, the disruption to traditional encryption methods, which secure vast amounts of sensitive data, becomes an imminent threat, and conventional encryption techniques, primarily based on mathematical complexity, may no longer suffice in the era of quantum supremacy. This research systematically analyzes the vulnerabilities of current encryption standards in the face of advanced quantum computing capabilities, focusing specifically on widely-used cryptographic protocols such as RSA and AES, which are foundational to modern cybersecurity. Employing the SmartPLS method, the study models the interaction between quantum computing power and the robustness of existing encryption techniques, involving simulating quantum attacks on sample cryptographic algorithms to evaluate their quantum resistance. The findings reveal that quantum computing possesses the capacity to significantly compromise traditional encryption methods within the next few decades, with RSA encryption showing substantial vulnerabilities while AES requires considerably larger key sizes to maintain security. This study underscores the urgency for the development of quantum-resistant encryption techniques, critical to safeguarding future digital communication and data integrity, and advocates for a paradigm shift in cryptographic research and practice, emphasizing the need for 'quantum-proof' algorithms. It also contributes to the strategic planning for cybersecurity in the quantum age and provides a methodological framework using SmartPLS for further exploration into the impact of emerging technologies on existing security protocols.

High-Performance Hardware Implementation of the Saber Key Encapsulation Protocol

Information is pivotal in contemporary society, highlighting the necessity for a secure cryptographic system. The emergence of quantum algorithms and the swift advancement of specialized quantum computers will render traditional cryptography susceptible to quantum attacks in the foreseeable future. The lattice-based Saber key encapsulation protocol holds significant value in cryptographic research and practical applications. In this paper, we propose three types of polynomial multipliers for various application scenarios including lightweight Schoolbook multiplier, high-throughput multiplier based on the TMVP-Schoolbook algorithm and improved pipelined NTT multiplier. Other principal modules of Saber are designed encompassing the hash function module, sampling module and functional submodule. Based on our proposed multiplier, we implement the overall hardware circuits of the Saber key encapsulation protocol. Experimental results demonstrate that our overall hardware circuits have different advantages. Our lightweight implementation has minimal resource consumption. Our high-throughput implementation only needs 23.28 μs to complete the whole process, which is the fastest among the existing works. The throughput rate is 10,988 Kbps and the frequency is 416 MHz. Our hardware implementation based on the improved pipelined NTT multiplier achieved a good balance between area and performance. The overall frequency can reach 357 MHz.

A Survey of Physical Layer Secret Key Generation Enhanced by Intelligent Reflecting Surface

As wireless communication scenarios grow more complicated, security issues are becoming increasingly prominent and severe. In the Internet of Things and vehicle-to-everything scenarios, conventional cryptographic technology faces numerous challenges. These include difficulties in secret key distribution and management, low update rates of secret keys, and vulnerability to quantum attacks. Physical layer secret key generation is considered a promising solution to security issues. The perfect secrecy proposed by Shannon can be achieved by combining secret key generation and the one-time pad when the length of secret keys is equal to that of plaintext. Hence, it is important to increase secret key generation rates. Intelligent reflecting surfaces demonstrate great advantages in improving the secret key generation performance. This paper provides a comprehensive review of current research efforts related to secret key generation assisted by intelligent reflecting surfaces, which is divided into three main categories: introducing the randomness of intelligent reflecting surfaces, optimizing the reflecting coefficients, and designing probing protocols. Comparative results of existing optimization approaches are provided and discussed. Furthermore, we emphasize the significance of selecting a random source of secret key generation from the perspective of information theory. Finally, two significant application scenarios, the Industrial Internet of Things and vehicle-to-everything, are discussed, and some challenges and opportunities are presented.

A lattice-based forward secure IBE scheme for Internet of things

The Internet of Things (IoT) is gaining popularity as it can effectively connect the real world with the Internet. However, security and privacy issues are widely considered the major obstructions to its widespread adoption. Hence, various cryptographic tools (e.g., encryption and signature schemes) have been proposed to build secure and authenticated channels for data communication in IoT. In this work, we investigate the well-known encryption scheme called identity-based encryption (IBE) for IoT-oriented applications. In particular, we are mainly interested in forward-secure IBE (fs-IBE) which could still protect the data transferred in the past when the current secret key stored in the IoT device is stolen. To this end, we propose an fs-IBE scheme which, as far as we know, is the first construction of fs-IBE that can resist quantum attacks. Our scheme is based on the lattice-based hardness assumption namely Learning with Error (LWE), which is widely adopted for designing other quantum-resistant cryptographic schemes. At the core of our design is the minimal cover mechanism in the context of binary tree and we rigorously prove the security of our scheme in the forward-secure, selective ID, chosen-plaintext attack (CPA) model. Besides the post-quantum security, our scheme enjoys comparatively compact ciphertext and secret key, and thus it is suitable for bandwidth-limited IoT communication.

Discrete mathematics for strengthening multivariate polynomial cryptography by addressing vulnerabilities

Multivariate Polynomial Cryptography (MPC) has emerged as a promising candidate for securing digital communication in the post-quantum era. Despite its potential, existing MPC schemes exhibit vulnerabilities that compromise their effectiveness against both classical and quantum attacks. This paper leverages discrete mathematics to address these vulnerabilities, providing a robust mathematical foundation for enhancing the security and efficiency of MPC schemes. The paper begins by identifying critical weaknesses in current MPC algorithms, such as susceptibility to algebraic attacks and high computational overhead. Using tools from discrete mathematics, particularly in combinatorics and algebra, novel multivariate quadratic equations are proposed, designed to be computationally infeasible for quantum algorithms to solve. The approach involves constructing new cryptographic primitives that improve resistance to known attack vectors while maintaining practical performance levels. This research fills a significant gap in the field by providing a rigorous mathematical framework for the development of more secure MPC schemes. Comprehensive security proofs and performance analyses demonstrate that these enhanced MPC constructions offer a viable path forward for post-quantum cryptography. The findings underscore the critical role of discrete mathematics in advancing the field and ensuring the future security of digital communications.

Lattice‐Based CP‐ABE Access Control for SDS Constraint with Lazy Assignment of Attributes and Attribute Revocation

Ciphertext‐policy attribute‐based encryption (CP‐ABE) is a cryptographic scheme suitable for secure data sharing on cloud storage. The CP‐ABE based on lattice theory has the property of resisting quantum attack. Some data objects uploaded to the cloud by the same data owner may cause conflicts of interest, or their combination may expose sensitive information. This paper proposes a revocable CP‐ABE scheme on the lattice, based on ring learning with error (R‐LWE) problem, to enforce access control constraints on user access to such data objects. In this scheme, first, the access policies of such data objects are amended by adding dummy attributes. Second, we control the secret key components associated with the dummy attributes or revoke the dummy attributes to prevent users from continuously accessing specific parts or all data objects from this kind of data set. Finally, we carry on the efficiency and security analysis of the scheme. The analysis results show that the scheme is efficient and safe.

A Robust and Lightweight Privacy-Preserving Data Aggregation Scheme for Smart Grid

Privacy-preserving data aggregation (PPDA) enables data availability and privacy preservation simultaneously in smart grid. However, existing methods, such as masking and homomorphic encryption, cannot simultaneously offer strong privacy preservation, fault tolerance for both smart meters and aggregators, verifiable aggregation, and lightweight encryption. To tackle these challenges, we design HTV-PRE, a homomorphic threshold proxy re-encryption scheme with re-encryption verifiability. HTV-PRE involves only linear operations and resists quantum attacks after being instanced by ideal lattices. By leveraging HTV-PRE, we propose a robust and lightweight data aggregation scheme with strong privacy preservation for smart grid. Robustness ensures fault tolerance and error detection. Even if some smart meters or aggregators are faulty, data aggregation can still work without imposing expensive computation on other smart meters or requiring additional trust assumptions. Additionally, to detect aggregators' errors, a proof for the aggregated result is presented so that anyone can verify whether the result has been correctly computed or not. The verifiable aggregation adds no computation/communication overhead on the user side. The performance evaluations demonstrate that our PPDA scheme significantly offloads computation overhead from smart meters and control center to the edge, and its user encryption is up to 4x faster than existing approaches.

Simple PKE schemes from the TSPEM problem

<p>In the quantum era, the advent of quantum computers poses significant threats to the security of current cryptosystems. Therefore, designing quantum-resistant cryptoschemes becomes important to guarantee information security. This work concentrates on the development of the post-quantum public key encryption (PKE) scheme. Non-commutative cryptography (NCC) has entered the field of post-quantum cryptography. We utilize the TSPEM problem with asymmetric structures (which serve as a potential candiate for resisting quantum attacks) to construct two PKE schemes which are demonstrated to be CPA security under the DTSPEM assumption. By representing the plaintext as a matrix, these schemes can effectively encrypt a significant amount of information in a single operation. Assuming an equal amount of messages for encryption, the proposed schemes acheive superior efficiency compared to existing PKE schemes. Structurally, our systems exhibit a level of synchronization and coexistence due to the distinct public keys $ (P) $ and ciphertexts $ (C_{1}) $. The efficiency analysis is conducted by comparing known schemes from the aspect of specific cryptographic indicators. Generally, the proposed ones offer several advantages including provable security, high efficiency, potential quantum-resistant, and relative ease of implementation; along with synchronization and coexistence. Our investigation has established the feasibility of constructing PKE schemes based on the TSPEM problem, specifically for asymmetric communication scenarios. The preliminary results pave the way for further exploration of the TSPEM problem$ ' $s potential in developing other cryptosystems suitable for quantum computing environments.</p>

Dedicated Quantum Attacks on XOR-Type Function With Applications to Beyond-Birthday- Bound MACs

Dedicated Quantum Attacks on XOR-Type Function With Applications to Beyond-Birthday- Bound MACs

Provably secure lightweight certificateless lattice‐based authenticated key exchange scheme for IIoT

SummaryThrough the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), the manufacturing enterprises have significantly enhanced the production efficiency. The transmission of data in IIoT over public channels has brought about information leakage issues. Therefore, it is crucial to agree on a session key among the participants. In recent years, numerous authenticated key exchange (AKE) schemes have been designed. However, those AKE schemes which adopt the certificateless approach to tackle certificate management and key escrow may remain vulnerable to quantum attacks, and other AKE schemes which are based on lattice hard problem so as to achieve the post quantum security may incur key management issues. To simultaneously address the aforementioned challenges, we propose a lightweight certificateless lattice‐based authenticated key exchange (C2LAKE) scheme. Upon the hardness assumptions of the inhomogeneous small integer solution (ISIS) and computational bilateral inhomogeneous small integer solution (CBi‐ISIS) problems, the C2LAKE scheme has been demonstrated to be secure in the eCK model and the random oracle model (ROM). Better trade‐off among security and functionality features, and communication and computation costs make the C2LAKE scheme suitable and applicable in the IIoT environment.

Analysis and comparison of the security of electronic signatures based on new quantum-resistant problems

Due to the development of quantum computers and quantum methods and algorithms, in order to ensure the security of information after the development of cryptographically relevant quantum computers, NIST conducted the NIST PQC competition. As a result of conducting three rounds of NIST PQC, NIST selected 4 candidates for standardization and four candidates for the fourth round (key encapsulation mechanisms BIKE, Classic McEliece, HQC, and SIKE (which the developers considered unreliable)). Due to the fact that selected algorithms are based on the use of lattices and to add diversity to this list through the use of general-purpose signatures, the process of standardizing additional digital signatures for quantum-resistant cryptography has been initiated.
 The following types of signatures are considered for the first round of this standardization process: code-based signatures, isogeny signatures, multivariate signatures, symmetric signatures, MPC-in-the-head, and NIST-defined "other" signatures. These "other" digital signatures are mostly based on new and promising post-quantum (quantum-resistant) problems.
 The purpose of the work is to analyze and compare candidates for quantum-resistant digital signatures, based on new and promising quantum-resistant problems, resistant to classical and quantum attacks and side-channel attacks. The paper provides comparison of four digital signatures classified by NIST as "other", namely: ALTEQ, eMLE-Sig 2.0, KAZ-SIGN, Xifrat1-Sign.I. For this purpose, the paper presents the basic principles of each of these digital signatures, their main parameters and available at the time of consideration attack vectors. The paper also provides unconditional criteria necessary for comparison. Digital signatures were compared according to such unconditional criteria as: possible lengths of the public key, possible lengths of the personal (secret) key, length of the result of cryptographic algorithm; and conclusions are made regarding the completeness of given comparison and the possibility of further research is highlighted.

DESIGN OF TECHNOLOGY FOR SECURE FILE STORAGE BASED ON HYBRID CRYPTOGRAPHY METHODS: SHORT OVERVIEW

In the era of pervasive digital data, ensuring secure file storage has become a paramount concern. This paper explores the significance of hybrid cryptography in the development of information technology for secure file storage. Hybrid cryptography, combining symmetric and asymmetric encryption, offers robust protection against unauthorized access, tampering, and data loss. The article reviews recent cryptography literature, highlighting the importance of secure file storage in today's interconnected world and examining the benefits of hybrid cryptography. The analysis of articles on cryptography reveals emerging trends and challenges. Post-quantum cryptography addresses concerns about quantum threats, while blockchain-based cryptography enhances security in IoT data sharing. Homomorphic encryption enables computations on encrypted data, and privacy-preserving cryptographic protocols facilitate secure multi-party computation. Machine learning's intersection with cryptanalysis introduces efficiency but raises ethical considerations. The paper further discusses advancements and trends in cryptography techniques, including post-quantum cryptography, homomorphic encryption, zero-knowledge proofs, post-quantum key exchange, secure multi-party computation, and post-quantum signature schemes. These developments aim to ensure long-term security against quantum attacks, enable privacy-preserving computations, and enhance the confidentiality, integrity, and authentication of digital communication and data storage. In conclusion, the paper advocates for the adoption of hybrid cryptography in secure file storage systems. Its combination of symmetric and asymmetric encryption, along with its adaptability to evolving security landscapes, positions hybrid cryptography as a formidable approach to data protection. By embracing hybrid cryptography and staying informed about the latest advancements, organizations can navigate the digital age with confidence, ensuring the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of stored files.