RINGS: Bringing Post-Quantum Cryptography to Large-Scale NextG Systems
Overview
Information communication technologies heavily rely on the security of cryptographic algorithms which are designed based on the difficulty of complex mathematical problems, such as integer factorization, discrete logarithm, or elliptic curves. However, a large quantum computer employing already known quantum algorithms could easily solve these underlying math problems and hence poses a serious threat to encryption schemes such as RSA and ECC which are widely used today on many networks. Even though the “large scale” quantum computers necessary to break encryption has been estimated to be a decade away; their threat is already here. In the meantime, we are witnessing the evolution of next generation network (NextG) systems, which will be characterized by the integration of millions of IoT devices that come with a variety of communication and computation capabilities. Without quantum-safe security, attackers will be able to compromise and control millions of IoT devices to attack the NextG systems on a scale.
Therefore, there is a need to integrate the upcoming NextG systems with quantum-resistant algorithms to ensure resilience against future attacks. This proposal tackles the challenge of bringing such algorithms to NextG by considering a comprehensive approach from algorithmic selection to network level security issues under the upcoming 5/6G systems.
Keywords: RV:A1, RV:B3, post-quantum cryptography, quantum-resistant NextG, quantum-resistant signatures, end-to-end security, quantum certificate management, 5G testbed development
Objective
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Investigation of quantum-safe cryptography algorithms for IoT devices deployed in NextG system
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Efficient quantum-safe certificate management in NextG systems
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Developing an open-source and end-to-end 5G network testbed across cloud entities.
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Evaluating performance trade-offs in deploying PQ-based security schemes on the proposed testbed.
Key Accomplishments
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Developed a virtualized open-source 5G Stand Alone testbed.
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Integrated Post-quantum TLS into 5G Control Plane on this testbed
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Evaluated certificate revocation mechanisms on NB-IoT
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Efficient PQC Certificate Management for IoTs in NextG Systems
Published Papers
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Integrating Post-Quantum TLS into the Control Plane of 5G Networks
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Lightweight Identity-Based Re-Authentication for Supporting Post-Quantum Security in 5G
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Policy Externalization in 5G-PKI: Enabling Scalable and Quantum-Ready IoT
Under Review
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Practical and Efficient Post-Quantum Security Framework for IoT-based 5G Networks
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ASTRA: An LLM-Driven Framework for Adaptive Predictive Authentication for 5G Non-Terrestrial Networks
Poster
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Customized Session Resumption for Supporting Post-Quantum Cryptography in 5G IoT Authentication (Warren B. Nelms Annual IoT Conference 2024)
References
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Hanna, Y., Pineda, D., Veksler, M., et al. (2024). Integrating post-quantum TLS into the control plane of 5G networks. 2024 IEEE International Performance, Computing, and Communications Conference (IPCCC), 1–8. https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10850437
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Paudel, M., Veksler, M., & Akkaya, K. (2026). Lightweight identity-based re-authentication for supporting post-quantum security in 5G. In Proceedings of the Workshop on Security and Privacy of Next-Generation Networks (FutureG) 2026. Network and Distributed System Security Symposium. https://www.ndss-symposium.org/wp-content/uploads/futureg26-79.pdf
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Paudel, M., Veksler, M., & Akkaya, K. (2026). Policy externalization in 5G-PKI: Enabling scalable and quantum-ready IoT. In Proceedings of the Workshop on Migration and Agility in Cryptographic Systems (MAgiCS) 2026 (held in conjunction with Eurocrypt 2026). Communications in Computer and Information Science. Springer.