Applied Post-Quantum Secure Method for IoT Devices: A Case Study for Autonomous Vehicles Communication

Autonomous vehicles (AV) have as one of their characteristics the constant exchange of data with other vehicles, radio base stations, pedestrians and infrastructure. Despite this data exchange using the most modern security techniques, vehicles have been the target of constant cyber-attacks. Emerging technologies such as quantum computing have been tested to minimize these attacks. Particularly, this work investigates the possibility of using post-quantum computing techniques in IoT (Internet of Things) devices, more specifically in AVs. Considering the functionalities of a vehicle nowadays, it is possible to say that a vehicle is composed of a set of IoT devices. Therefore, in this paper, we propose a post-quantum secure method to be used in IoT devices for data exchange between AVs and a 5G base station. In this method, the post-quantum algorithm NTRU is implemented in an edge computing IoT architecture between the source of the CVs data and the edge layer, which is a vulnerable spot for quantum-attacks. We simulated the implementation of the algorithm in a case study and monitored how the algorithm performed. The proposed methodology was capable of providing secure communication between IoT and edge layer. However, the message length and parameters from the algorithm can slow down the communication.