Integration of Key Distribution and Cryptographic Technique to Achieve Quantum-resistant Authenticated Key Exchange in Transport Layer Security

Abstract

The latest breakthroughs in quantum computing (QC) have made building secured and effective authorization systems
against QC threats more imperative. Quantum key dissemination (KD) and post-quantum cryptographic techniques
(PQCT) are pioneering security innovations that enable transmissions to withstand QC attacks. To realize quantumresistant
authenticated key exchange (QRAKE), the above-stated methods must be integrated into a Transport Layer
Security (TLS). This study presented and implemented two innovative hybrid techniques integrating KD and PQCT
inside TLS to achieve QRAKE: Concatenation and Exclusive-OR (XOR). The Integrated Quantum KD and PQCTmaster
concealment setup is the most time-consuming configuration, reaching 203 ms. This is mainly due to high
times of Credential (40 ms), Server Key Transfer (12 ms), Client Key Transfer (10 ms) and End (120 ms). This serves
as an indication of the trade-off present between the security of the cryptographic structure and the efficiency of the
protocol.