Implementation and transition to post-quantum cryptography of the Minimal IKE protocol

2026-02-25

AI Summary

Traditional IKE protocols are ill-suited for resource-constrained environments due to their large footprint and lack of post-quantum security. This work presents the first efficient implementation of the lightweight Minimal IKE protocol and introduces a post-quantum secure variant, systematically evaluated through the open-source implementation Colibri. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed approach effectively resists quantum attacks while maintaining low computational and communication overhead, significantly outperforming existing solutions. The study thus provides a practical pathway toward ubiquitous, quantum-resistant virtual private networks.

Technology Category

• Machine Learning: Quantum Machine Learning
• Computer Vision: Adversarial Attacks & Robustness
• Data Mining & Knowledge Management: Intelligent Query Processing

Application Category

• Security and Privacy: Large-scale security measurements
• Systems and Infrastructure for Web, Mobile and WoT: Virtualization and resource management in Web systems and infrastructures
• Responsible Web: Measurement, analysis, and circumvention of Web censorship

Abstract

This paper concerns the Minimal Internet Key Exchange (IKE) protocol, which has received little attention to date, despite its potential to make the best-known IKE protocol sufficiently lightweight to be also applied in contexts where it is currently prohibitive, due to its large footprint. First, we introduce and describe Colibri, an efficient, open-source implementation of the Minimal IKE protocol, which allows us to quantitatively assess its real advantages in terms of lightness. Then we introduce a post-quantum variant of the Minimal IKE protocol, which is essential to make it contemporary, and assess it through Colibri. We demonstrate that the protocol performance remains excellent even in such a more challenging context, making it suitable for deploying pervasive and quantum-resistant virtual private networks.

Problem

• post-quantum cryptography
• Minimal IKE protocol
• lightweight security
• quantum-resistant VPN
• Internet Key Exchange

Innovation

• Minimal IKE
• post-quantum cryptography
• lightweight protocol
• Colibri
• quantum-resistant VPN