A Post-Quantum Secure Tree-ORAM Framework for Financial Data Protection

Abstract

The rapid development of computers is changing the way financial systems handle and protect the private data. The current finance models are dependent on cloud-based services or multiple servers, thereby exposing sensitive data to cyber attacks and user errors. Traditional encryption methods are not strong enough to counter attacks by quantum computers. To put off such acts, this work makes use of Kyber512 based post quantum encryption together with a Tree based Oblivious Random Access Memory (Tree-ORAM) structure. Rather than disclosing details, it imparts data content and access methods by encrypting the paths, changing and shuffling the positions of the leaves, and securely removing outdated items. Real world tests on actual loan records show fast speeds under one millisecond for reading, retrieving, or modifying stored information. The expansion of storage to 150,000 secured entries does not change the response times that remain consistent regardless of the TreeORAM layout. The findings attest that with the support of post quantum cryptography (PQC), the proposed model has a very slow growth in access time as the size of the data increases. It safeguards the systems from any form of attack and it allows them to be efficient. In brief, this research establishes a single unit that is near impossible for future computers to crack, maintain data confidentiality, hides the fact that even if someone has access to the data, they don’t know what data it is, and is in line with strict regulations.