Performance Analysis and Deployment Considerations of Post-Quantum Cryptography for Consumer Electronics

2025-05-04

AI Summary

Quantum computing poses an imminent threat to the security of consumer electronics (CE) devices, necessitating practical, resource-aware post-quantum cryptography (PQC) selection criteria for constrained endpoints. Method: We conduct the first systematic, cross-platform empirical evaluation—on real ARM, x86, and macOS CE hardware—of NIST-standardized PQC algorithms (ML-KEM, ML-DSA) and finalists (Classic McEliece, SPHINCS+), measuring execution time, communication overhead, and memory footprint, with RSA/ECC as baselines. Contribution/Results: We derive a scenario-aware, tiered deployment framework covering wearables, smart home devices, and beyond. Our analysis reveals ML-KEM and ML-DSA achieve the optimal trade-off between efficiency and resource overhead; identifies Classic McEliece’s severe public-key expansion and SPHINCS+’s excessive signature size as critical bottlenecks; and delivers empirically grounded, implementation-ready guidance for pragmatic PQC migration in CE ecosystems.

Technology Category

• Machine Learning: Hardware-aware ML
• Constraint Satisfaction and Optimization: Distributed CSP/Optimization
• Philosophy and Ethics of AI: Privacy & Security

Application Category

• Security and Privacy: Applications of cryptography
• Systems and Infrastructure for Web, Mobile and WoT: Energy management for devices in mobile Web and WoT environments
• User Modeling, Personalization and Recommendation: Attacks and countermeasures in recommendation systems

Abstract

Quantum computing threatens the security foundations of consumer electronics (CE). Preparing the diverse CE ecosystem, particularly resource-constrained devices, for the post-quantum era requires quantitative understanding of quantum-resistant cryptography (PQC) performance. This paper presents a comprehensive cross-platform performance analysis of leading PQC Key Encapsulation Mechanisms (KEMs) and digital signatures (NIST standards/candidates) compared against classical RSA/ECC. We evaluated execution time, communication costs (key/signature sizes), and memory footprint indicators on high-performance (macOS/M4, Ubuntu/x86) and constrained platforms (Raspberry Pi 4/ARM). Our quantitative results reveal lattice-based schemes, notably NIST standards ML-KEM (Kyber) and ML-DSA (Dilithium), provide a strong balance of computational efficiency and moderate communication/storage overhead, making them highly suitable for many CE applications. In contrast, code-based Classic McEliece imposes significant key size challenges, while hash-based SPHINCS+ offers high security assurance but demands large signature sizes impacting bandwidth and storage. Based on empirical data across platforms and security levels, we provide specific deployment recommendations tailored to different CE scenarios (e.g., wearables, smart home hubs, mobile devices), offering guidance for manufacturers navigating the PQC transition.

Problem

• Analyzing PQC performance for consumer electronics security
• Comparing PQC KEMs and signatures with classical RSA/ECC
• Providing deployment recommendations for CE PQC transition

Innovation

• Cross-platform PQC performance analysis on diverse devices
• Lattice-based schemes balance efficiency and overhead
• Deployment recommendations for various CE scenarios