University of Twente Student Theses
The Quantum Menace
Romeo, Christian (2024) The Quantum Menace.
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| Abstract: | The advent of large-scale error-corrected quantum computers era will soon pose a critical threat to the security of communications by undermining current cryptographic standards, especially those based on specific mathematical problems. This study investigates the urgent need for transitioning towards Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) to ensure the long-term confidentiality, integrity, and authenticity of digital communications, particularly in ”Harvest Now, Decrypt Later” scenarios. Recognizing this threat to its primary objective of safeguarding customers’ communications, Symphony proactively explores PQC solutions to secure its position as an industry leader in secure messaging. This research investigates, develops and evaluates a proof-of-concept PQC solution within Symphony’s systems as an RSA alternative. We achieved that by implementing a key wrapping scheme based on the NIST’s selected PQC standardization Key Encapsulation Mechanism candidate CRYSTALS-Kyber, combined with AES-GCM and HMAC-SHA3. The implementation addresses challenges such as integration into existing infrastructure, interoperability, and performance stability. Comprehensive benchmarks compare key performance metrics against the current RSA implementation, revealing that Kyber offers significant advantages, especially in key generation speed. At the same time, our hybrid architecture introduces a negligible performance overhead. This thesis provides critical insights into the real-world challenges and considerations of migrating to PQC. The findings demonstrate the feasibility of integrating PQC into existing systems while highlighting the need for continued research and optimization in order to fully realize its potential in securing future communications against quantum threats. |
| Item Type: | Essay (Master) |
| Faculty: | EEMCS: Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science |
| Subject: | 54 computer science |
| Programme: | Computer Science MSc (60300) |
| Link to this item: | https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/104523 |
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