FIPS Compliant Quantum Secure Communication using Quantum Permutation
  Pad
Quantum computing has entered fast development track since Shor's algorithm
was proposed in 1994. Multi-cloud services of quantum computing farms are
currently available. One of which, IBM quantum computing, presented a road map
showing their Kookaburra system with over 4158 qubits will be available in
2025. For the standardization of Post-Quantum Cryptography or PQC, the National
Institute of Standards and Technology or NIST recently announced the first
candidates for standardization with one algorithm for key encapsulation
mechanism (KEM), Kyber, and three algorithms for digital signatures. NIST has
also issued a new call for quantum-safe digital signature algorithms due June
1, 2023. This timeline shows that FIPS-certified quantum-safe TLS protocol
would take a predictably long time. However, "steal now, crack later" tactic
requires protecting data against future quantum threat actors today. NIST
recommended the use of a hybrid mode of TLS 1.3 with its extensions to support
PQC. The hybrid mode works for certain cases but FIPS certification for the
hybridized cryptomodule might still be required. This paper proposes to take a
nested mode to enable TLS 1.3 protocol with quantum-safe data, which can be
made available today and is FIPS compliant. We discussed the performance
impacts of the handshaking phase of the nested TLS 1.3 with PQC and the
symmetric encryption phase. The major impact on performance using the nested
mode is in the data symmetric encryption with AES. To overcome this performance
reduction, we suggest using quantum encryption with a quantum permutation pad
for the data encryption with a minor performance reduction of less than 10
percent.
Alex He Dafu Lou Eric She Shangjie Guo Hareesh Watson Sibyl Weng Maria Perepechaenko Rand Kuang