A Post-Quantum Authentication and Key Agreement Protocol Based on Lattice-Based KEM for Secure Network Environments

Area of Science:

• Cybersecurity and Cryptography
• Quantum Computing Security
• Network Protocols

Background:

• Emerging environments like cloud computing and IoT require robust security for data transmission over public networks.
• Existing authentication protocols based on classical cryptography are vulnerable to quantum computing attacks.
• There is a critical need for post-quantum cryptographic solutions to ensure future data security.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose a novel post-quantum authentication and key agreement protocol.
• To enhance security in cloud computing and IoT environments against quantum threats.
• To provide mutual authentication and secure session key establishment.

Main Methods:

• Integration of cryptographic authentication, smart card protection, and the lattice-based Kyber key encapsulation mechanism (KEM).
• Formal security analysis in the Real-or-Random (ROR) model under the random oracle assumption.
• Informal security analysis to demonstrate properties like anonymity and forward confidentiality.

Main Results:

• The proposed protocol offers strong security guarantees, including resistance to known attacks.
• Demonstrated properties such as anonymity, untraceability, and perfect forward confidentiality.
• Evaluated computational cost and communication overhead, showing efficiency compared to existing protocols.

Conclusions:

• The developed post-quantum protocol effectively addresses the security challenges posed by quantum computing.
• It provides a secure and efficient solution for authentication and key agreement in modern digital environments.
• The protocol balances robust security with low computational and communication overhead.