Post-Quantum Cryptography Resilience in Telehealth Using Quantum Key Distribution.

Area of Science:

• Cybersecurity
• Quantum Computing
• Telehealth

Background:

• Emerging quantum computing threats pose significant risks to sensitive telehealth data.
• Existing cybersecurity measures may become vulnerable to quantum attacks.
• Ensuring patient data confidentiality and immutability is paramount in healthcare.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose and evaluate a novel cybersecurity architecture for telehealth resilient against quantum computing threats.
• To ensure data confidentiality and immutability for patient records in a post-quantum era.
• To integrate post-quantum cryptography (PQC) with quantum key distribution (QKD) and privacy-preserving mechanisms.

Main Methods:

• A multi-layered design integrating PQC algorithms (e.g., CRYSTALS-Dilithium) at the blockchain consensus layer.
• Utilizing a directed acyclic graph (DAG)-based ledger for high transaction throughput.
• Implementing a QKD-enhanced key management protocol and privacy-preserving mechanisms like zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs) and secure multiparty computation (MPC).

Main Results:

• The PQC signatures effectively resisted classical and anticipated quantum attacks in a simulated telehealth network.
• QKD facilitated secure key distribution, while ZKPs and MPC validated transactions without compromising patient privacy.
• The DAG approach demonstrated improved scalability and efficient handling of parallel transactions compared to traditional blockchains.

Conclusions:

• The QKD-enhanced, PQC-driven framework effectively safeguards medical data against quantum threats.
• The architecture ensures cryptographic resilience and robust patient confidentiality for next-generation healthcare.
• Further research is recommended for optimizations, homomorphic encryption, and large-scale pilots.