A Quantum-Secure Framework for IoD: Strengthening Authentication and Key-Establishment

Salman Shamshad; Sana Belguith; Alma Oracevic

doi:10.1145/3708821.3736219

A Quantum-Secure Framework for IoD: Strengthening Authentication and Key-Establishment

Salman Shamshad^*
, Sana Belguith
, Alma Oracevic

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference Contribution (Conference Proceeding)

2 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The authentication and key establishment (AKE) mechanism is considered one of the promising solutions for securing communication in Internet of Drones (IoD) applications. Nevertheless, existing AKE mechanisms based on traditional cryptographic techniques rely on integer factorization and discrete logarithms, which are no longer safe with the advent of quantum computers. These shortcomings motivate us to design a cutting-edge Quantum Secure Authentication and Key-Establishment mechanism (QSAKE) for the IoD environment. To the best of our knowledge, QSAKE is the pioneered work that uses advanced quantum-safe cryptography, providing a strong defence beyond traditional methods. To further enhance security, it eliminates storing long-term secrets directly in drone memory, reducing the risk of unauthorized access. A Holybro Pixhawk-based microcontroller is used with a Raspberry Pi connected to a Xilinx Arty A7-100T FPGA board to develop a realistic testbed. Finally, this work stands out as a groundbreaking application of a complete authentication process within a practical IoD testbed, demonstrating its high efficacy and practicality.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	ACM ASIA CCS 2025 - Proceedings of the 20th ACM ASIA Conference on Computer and Communications Security
Publisher	Association for Computing Machinery
Pages	313-326
Number of pages	14
ISBN (Electronic)	9798400714108
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1145/3708821.3736219
Publication status	Published - 24 Aug 2025
Event	20th ACM ASIA Conference on Computer and Communications Security, ASIA CCS 2025 - Hanoi, Viet Nam Duration: 25 Aug 2025 → 29 Aug 2025

Publication series

Name	Proceedings of the ACM Conference on Computer and Communications Security
ISSN (Print)	1543-7221

Conference

Conference	20th ACM ASIA Conference on Computer and Communications Security, ASIA CCS 2025
Country/Territory	Viet Nam
City	Hanoi
Period	25/08/25 → 29/08/25

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2025 Copyright held by the owner/author(s).

Keywords

Authentication
CRYSTAL-Kyber
Key Establishment
Mutual Authentication
Post-Quantum Cryptography

Access to Document

10.1145/3708821.3736219Licence: CC BY-ND

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Persistent link

Cite this

Shamshad, S., Belguith, S., & Oracevic, A. (2025). A Quantum-Secure Framework for IoD: Strengthening Authentication and Key-Establishment. In ACM ASIA CCS 2025 - Proceedings of the 20th ACM ASIA Conference on Computer and Communications Security (pp. 313-326). (Proceedings of the ACM Conference on Computer and Communications Security). Association for Computing Machinery. https://doi.org/10.1145/3708821.3736219

Shamshad, Salman ; Belguith, Sana ; Oracevic, Alma. / A Quantum-Secure Framework for IoD : Strengthening Authentication and Key-Establishment. ACM ASIA CCS 2025 - Proceedings of the 20th ACM ASIA Conference on Computer and Communications Security. Association for Computing Machinery, 2025. pp. 313-326 (Proceedings of the ACM Conference on Computer and Communications Security).

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title = "A Quantum-Secure Framework for IoD: Strengthening Authentication and Key-Establishment",

abstract = "The authentication and key establishment (AKE) mechanism is considered one of the promising solutions for securing communication in Internet of Drones (IoD) applications. Nevertheless, existing AKE mechanisms based on traditional cryptographic techniques rely on integer factorization and discrete logarithms, which are no longer safe with the advent of quantum computers. These shortcomings motivate us to design a cutting-edge Quantum Secure Authentication and Key-Establishment mechanism (QSAKE) for the IoD environment. To the best of our knowledge, QSAKE is the pioneered work that uses advanced quantum-safe cryptography, providing a strong defence beyond traditional methods. To further enhance security, it eliminates storing long-term secrets directly in drone memory, reducing the risk of unauthorized access. A Holybro Pixhawk-based microcontroller is used with a Raspberry Pi connected to a Xilinx Arty A7-100T FPGA board to develop a realistic testbed. Finally, this work stands out as a groundbreaking application of a complete authentication process within a practical IoD testbed, demonstrating its high efficacy and practicality.",

keywords = "Authentication, CRYSTAL-Kyber, Key Establishment, Mutual Authentication, Post-Quantum Cryptography",

author = "Salman Shamshad and Sana Belguith and Alma Oracevic",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2025 Copyright held by the owner/author(s).; 20th ACM ASIA Conference on Computer and Communications Security, ASIA CCS 2025 ; Conference date: 25-08-2025 Through 29-08-2025",

year = "2025",

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Shamshad, S , Belguith, S & Oracevic, A 2025, A Quantum-Secure Framework for IoD: Strengthening Authentication and Key-Establishment. in ACM ASIA CCS 2025 - Proceedings of the 20th ACM ASIA Conference on Computer and Communications Security. Proceedings of the ACM Conference on Computer and Communications Security, Association for Computing Machinery, pp. 313-326, 20th ACM ASIA Conference on Computer and Communications Security, ASIA CCS 2025, Hanoi, Viet Nam, 25/08/25. https://doi.org/10.1145/3708821.3736219

A Quantum-Secure Framework for IoD: Strengthening Authentication and Key-Establishment. / Shamshad, Salman ; Belguith, Sana ; Oracevic, Alma.
ACM ASIA CCS 2025 - Proceedings of the 20th ACM ASIA Conference on Computer and Communications Security. Association for Computing Machinery, 2025. p. 313-326 (Proceedings of the ACM Conference on Computer and Communications Security).

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference Contribution (Conference Proceeding)

TY - GEN

T1 - A Quantum-Secure Framework for IoD

T2 - 20th ACM ASIA Conference on Computer and Communications Security, ASIA CCS 2025

AU - Shamshad, Salman

AU - Belguith, Sana

AU - Oracevic, Alma

PY - 2025/8/24

Y1 - 2025/8/24

N2 - The authentication and key establishment (AKE) mechanism is considered one of the promising solutions for securing communication in Internet of Drones (IoD) applications. Nevertheless, existing AKE mechanisms based on traditional cryptographic techniques rely on integer factorization and discrete logarithms, which are no longer safe with the advent of quantum computers. These shortcomings motivate us to design a cutting-edge Quantum Secure Authentication and Key-Establishment mechanism (QSAKE) for the IoD environment. To the best of our knowledge, QSAKE is the pioneered work that uses advanced quantum-safe cryptography, providing a strong defence beyond traditional methods. To further enhance security, it eliminates storing long-term secrets directly in drone memory, reducing the risk of unauthorized access. A Holybro Pixhawk-based microcontroller is used with a Raspberry Pi connected to a Xilinx Arty A7-100T FPGA board to develop a realistic testbed. Finally, this work stands out as a groundbreaking application of a complete authentication process within a practical IoD testbed, demonstrating its high efficacy and practicality.

AB - The authentication and key establishment (AKE) mechanism is considered one of the promising solutions for securing communication in Internet of Drones (IoD) applications. Nevertheless, existing AKE mechanisms based on traditional cryptographic techniques rely on integer factorization and discrete logarithms, which are no longer safe with the advent of quantum computers. These shortcomings motivate us to design a cutting-edge Quantum Secure Authentication and Key-Establishment mechanism (QSAKE) for the IoD environment. To the best of our knowledge, QSAKE is the pioneered work that uses advanced quantum-safe cryptography, providing a strong defence beyond traditional methods. To further enhance security, it eliminates storing long-term secrets directly in drone memory, reducing the risk of unauthorized access. A Holybro Pixhawk-based microcontroller is used with a Raspberry Pi connected to a Xilinx Arty A7-100T FPGA board to develop a realistic testbed. Finally, this work stands out as a groundbreaking application of a complete authentication process within a practical IoD testbed, demonstrating its high efficacy and practicality.

KW - Authentication

KW - CRYSTAL-Kyber

KW - Key Establishment

KW - Mutual Authentication

KW - Post-Quantum Cryptography

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105015957063

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DO - 10.1145/3708821.3736219

M3 - Conference Contribution (Conference Proceeding)

AN - SCOPUS:105015957063

T3 - Proceedings of the ACM Conference on Computer and Communications Security

SP - 313

EP - 326

BT - ACM ASIA CCS 2025 - Proceedings of the 20th ACM ASIA Conference on Computer and Communications Security

PB - Association for Computing Machinery

Y2 - 25 August 2025 through 29 August 2025

ER -

Shamshad S , Belguith S , Oracevic A. A Quantum-Secure Framework for IoD: Strengthening Authentication and Key-Establishment. In ACM ASIA CCS 2025 - Proceedings of the 20th ACM ASIA Conference on Computer and Communications Security. Association for Computing Machinery. 2025. p. 313-326. (Proceedings of the ACM Conference on Computer and Communications Security). doi: 10.1145/3708821.3736219

A Quantum-Secure Framework for IoD: Strengthening Authentication and Key-Establishment

Abstract

Publication series

Conference

Bibliographical note

Keywords

Access to Document

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Other files and links

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Securing the Skies: Provably Secure Authentication and Key Establishment Protocols for Internet of Drones Environment

Cite this

A Quantum-Secure Framework for IoD: Strengthening Authentication and Key-Establishment

Abstract

Publication series

Conference

Bibliographical note

Keywords

Access to Document

Handle.net

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Student theses

Securing the Skies: Provably Secure Authentication and Key Establishment Protocols for Internet of Drones Environment

Cite this