Evaluating Post-Quantum Cryptographic Algorithms on Resource-Constrained Devices

2025-07-11

AI Summary

Quantum computing poses a severe threat to classical public-key cryptosystems such as RSA and ECC, yet resource-constrained IoT devices struggle to balance security and efficiency. This work presents the first systematic implementation and evaluation of three post-quantum key encapsulation mechanisms—BIKE, CRYSTALS-Kyber, and HQC—on a lightweight IoT platform (Raspberry Pi), integrated into a quantum-resistant TLS handshake prototype via Open Quantum Safe (liboqs) and mbedTLS. We quantitatively measure computational latency, memory footprint, and energy consumption under realistic conditions. Results show that Kyber achieves the best overall performance: all three schemes complete key exchange within milliseconds and consume less than 150 KB of memory, demonstrating practical deployability on low-power IoT hardware. This study provides critical empirical evidence to inform standardization and real-world adoption of post-quantum cryptography in constrained IoT environments.

Technology Category

• Machine Learning: Quantum Machine Learning
• Application Domains: Internet of Things, Sensor Networks & Smart Cities
• Data Mining & Knowledge Management: Intelligent Query Processing

Application Category

• Security and Privacy: Large-scale security measurements
• Systems and Infrastructure for Web, Mobile and WoT: Web performance, measurement, and characterization
• Responsible Web: Measurement, analysis, and circumvention of Web censorship

Abstract

The rapid advancement of quantum computing poses a critical threat to classical cryptographic algorithms such as RSA and ECC, particularly in Internet of Things (IoT) devices, where secure communication is essential but often constrained by limited computational resources. This paper investigates the feasibility of deploying post-quantum cryptography (PQC) algorithms on resource-constrained devices. In particular, we implement three PQC algorithms -- BIKE, CRYSTALS-Kyber, and HQC -- on a lightweight IoT platform built with Raspberry Pi devices. Leveraging the Open Quantum Safe ( exttt{liboqs}) library in conjunction with exttt{mbedTLS}, we develop quantum-secure key exchange protocols, and evaluate their performance in terms of computational overhead, memory usage, and energy consumption for quantum secure communication. Experimental results demonstrate that the integration of PQC algorithms on constrained hardware is practical, reinforcing the urgent need for quantum-resilient cryptographic frameworks in next-generation IoT devices. The implementation of this paper is available at https://iqsec-lab.github.io/PQC-IoT/.

Problem

• Evaluate post-quantum cryptography on resource-limited IoT devices
• Compare performance of BIKE, CRYSTALS-Kyber, and HQC algorithms
• Assess computational overhead, memory usage, and energy consumption

Innovation

• Implement BIKE, CRYSTALS-Kyber, HQC on Raspberry Pi
• Use liboqs and mbedTLS for quantum-secure protocols
• Evaluate performance via overhead, memory, energy metrics