QuantumShield-IoT: A Quantum-Resilient Hybrid Framework for Secure Data Transmission Using Quantum Key Distribution, Lightweight Cryptography and Blockchain Technology

Quantum-Based Two-Factor Authentication Protocol for Blockchain-Aided Internet-of-Medical-Things

The rapid growth of the Internet-of-Medical-Things (IoMT) and quantum computing presents significant security risks. Quantum algorithms efficiently break traditional public-key encryption, exposing sensitive patient data to long-term threat. Consequently, ensuring robust authentication and long-term security under quantum threats remains a critical challenge, particularly in decentralized environments. This article proposes a decentralized two-factor authentication (2FA) protocol for IoMT. Our protocol integrates blockchain, biometric fuzzy extractors, and the BB84 quantum key distribution (QKD) protocol. We utilize the biometric fuzzy extractor to protect user identities. A public blockchain manages authentication parameters via smart contracts (SCs) to support decentralized identity verification. This mechanism facilitates user revocation and authorized traceability. Session keys establish through QKD to achieve information-theoretic security, and the protocol provides forward and backward secrecy. Formal security analysis under the Canetti–Krawczyk (CK) and real-or-random (ROR) models demonstrates resistance to impersonation, replay, man-in-the-middle, and quantum attacks. Experimental results show that our protocol reduces classical computation overhead by over 56% and classical communication overhead by 10% compared to existing baselines. Furthermore, it achieves lower communication costs while maintaining high efficiency for resource-constrained IoMT environments in the future.

A Comprehensive Review of 5G Security Architecture and Quantum-Safe Communication Using Quantum Key Distribution and Post-Quantum Algorithms

G Network Architecture technology is undergoing a revolution in wireless communication, delivering ultra-high data rates, massive device connectivity, low latency and intelligent network automation, all of which are relevant to smart city, healthcare, autonomous vehicle and industrial IoT applications. But with its distributed and software-defined design, 5G architecture presents a number of security challenges, which include network slicing vulnerabilities, attacks against edge computing, denial-of-service threats, authentication complications, and privacy threats. In today communication systems, attack surface is growing due to increased reliance on both cloud-based infrastructures and virtualization. With the arrival of high powered quantum computers, these will able to achieve quantum based computational attacks on classical cryptographic methods like RSA and ECC, it is expected that traditional cryptographic mechanisms will become vulnerable for use in a 5G security framework. To overcome these difficulties, Quantum Key Distribution has come up as a possible answer to secure quantum-safe communication based on quantum mechanics principles which can enable key exchange which is theoretically unbreakable. This review covers an outline of the security architecture of 5G networks, threats to integration strategies of QKD, quantum computing, and the implications of post-quantum cryptography in future communication systems. The paper also explores the latest developments, implementation hurdles, standardization initiatives, and avenues for future research into the construction of secure quantum-resilient networks of 5G and next-generation 6G Communication Systems.

A Blockchain-Based Lightweight Authentication Framework for Secure Communication in IoT Networks

A lightweight blockchain-based authentication framework for secure communication in Internet of Things (IoT) networks that integrates a permissioned blockchain with ECC-256 to provide mutual authentication, data integrity, and non-repudiation for resource-constrained IoT devices.

PQ-AuthV: Post-Quantum Secure Authentication With Aggregated Signatures in IoT-Enabled Smart Vehicle Networks

Post-Quantum Security Frameworks for Internet of Things Systems: A Layered Narrative Review of Architectures, Protocols, Trust, and Emerging Challenges

The analysis indicates a significant prevalence of lattice-based schemes, hybrid strategies, and integrations with blockchain technology, zero-knowledge proofs, federated learning, homomorphic encryption, AI, and Zero Trust architectures, as well as key gaps remain in side-channel evaluation, migration pathways, deployment costs, and real-world validation.

Lightweight Anonymous Group Authentication and Quantum-Cloud Key Distribution Based on PUF for Classical Network Environments

With the rapid development of quantum computing, in response to its disruptive threats to traditional cryptosystems and the urgent demand for lightweight and highly scalable secure group communication among resource-constrained devices in large-scale Internet of Things (IoT) scenarios, this paper proposes a lightweight anonymous group authentication scheme that integrates Physical Unclonable Functions (PUFs), distributed Gossip algorithms, and quantum key distribution. By exploiting the uniqueness and unclonability derived from the inherent physical characteristics of PUF hardware, the scheme fundamentally eliminates attack vectors against quantum computers without requiring devices to pre-store any secret keys in their memory, while the QKCS pre-provisions CRPs and key seeds, which is the standard enrollment procedure in PUF-based systems. Combined with information-theoretically secure quantum keys as session keys, it forms a dual protection mechanism: anti-forgery at the physical layer and anti-quantum attack at the cryptographic layer. Innovatively, the Gossip algorithm is deeply integrated with group key agreement, converting global broadcast into local iterative interactions between nodes, which effectively alleviates broadcast storms and improves the scalability and fault tolerance of the protocol. Meanwhile, a pseudonym mechanism is introduced to achieve anonymous identity protection, and a dynamic key update strategy guarantees forward and backward security when members join or leave the group. Formal verification based on BAN logic and security analysis show that the proposed protocol can resist typical attacks such as replay attacks, man-in-the-middle attacks, and impersonation attacks. Performance evaluations demonstrate that our scheme outperforms existing comparable schemes in terms of computational cost, communication overhead, and dynamic group management efficiency, demonstrating its potential for resource-constrained IoT environments, pending further validation on real hardware platforms.