Aquaman: A Transparent Proxy Architecture for Quantum Resilient Key Establishment

• URL: http://arxiv.org/abs/2605.06932v1
• Date: Thu, 07 May 2026 20:45:39 GMT
• Title: Aquaman: A Transparent Proxy Architecture for Quantum Resilient Key Establishment
• Abstract summary: We present Aquaman, a transparent-proxy architecture for quantum-resilient session-key establishment.<n>A transparent proxy intercepts session-key requests at the edge of a trusted network without requiring client-side configuration.<n>A 1,000-run prototype evaluation on AWS EC2 shows that latency is dominated by network transmission, not by multi-path overhead.
• Score: 8.056193828705942
• License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Abstract: The harvest-now, decrypt-later (HNDL) threat--adversaries intercepting and archiving ciphertext today for retrospective decryption once quantum computers mature--turns the future quantum threat into a present liability for the public-key primitives (RSA, Diffie-Hellman, ECC) that anchor modern session-key exchange. We present Aquaman, a transparent-proxy architecture for quantum-resilient session-key establishment. A transparent proxy intercepts session-key requests at the edge of a trusted network without requiring client-side configuration, deploying quantum-resistant capability at the network boundary on behalf of clients that may themselves lack post-quantum cryptography (PQC). Aquaman supports four operating modes: PQC offloaded to the proxy for clients without trusted PQC stacks; classical multi-path key fragmentation over heterogeneous media (with an optional anonymous proxy-pool variant); QKD with the SKIP/ETSI GS QKD 014 key-delivery interface; and classical/PQC hybrid handshakes. We implement and evaluate the first two modes; the latter two are well-trodden in the PQC literature and we discuss but do not implement them. The implemented multi-path mode splits the session key into ciphertext fragments distributed across diverse media (Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, NFC, cellular, Ethernet); reconstruction requires all fragments. We formalize the security argument and prove that recovery probability decays as (B/d)^n in the diversity dimension. A 1,000-run prototype evaluation on AWS EC2 shows that latency is dominated by network transmission, not by multi-path overhead.

Related papers

• Eavesdropper-Blind Remote State Preparation and Applications to Quantum Public-Key Encryption [46.01993114598725]
  We study a weaker form of remote state preparation, which we call eavesdropper-blind remote state preparation (EB-RSP)<n>EB-RSP requires blindness only against external observers who see the transcript of the honest protocol, rather than against the quantum server itself.<n>We show that two-message EB-RSP already suffices to construct quantum public-key encryption with classical public keys and quantumtext ciphers.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2026-08-21T15:51:55Z)
• Onion-Routed Multi-Circuit Key Establishment for Quantum-Resilient Sessions [8.056193828705942]
  RSA, Diffie-Hellman, and elliptic-curve cryptography are vulnerable to Shor's algorithm on a sufficiently capable quantum computer.<n>We propose a session-key establishment scheme that distributes a freshly generated key as multiple, independently encrypted fragments.<n>We implement the design as a Flask-based prototype on AWS EC2, with both the proxy and the client deployed as Tor onion services.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2026-05-20T16:14:07Z)
• On Post-Quantum Cryptography Authentication for Quantum Key Distribution [0.0]
  Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) users authenticate themselves using pre-shared key material to join a quantum network.<n>Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) combined with Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) offers a more scalable solution.<n>Unlike traditional PKI, which relies on classical cryptographic algorithms such as RSA, the approach presented in this paper leverages PQC algorithms believed to be resistant to quantum attacks.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2025-07-28T20:40:11Z)
• Secure Multi-Party Biometric Verification using QKD assisted Quantum Oblivious Transfer [34.46964288961048]
  We present a practical implementation of a secure multiparty computation application enabled by quantum oblivious transfer (QOT)<n>The QOT protocol uses polarization-encoded entangled states to share oblivious keys between two parties with quantum key distribution (QKD) providing authentication.<n>A practical use case is demonstrated for privacy-preserving fingerprint matching against no-fly lists from Interpol and the United Nations.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2025-01-09T15:51:30Z)
• Practical hybrid PQC-QKD protocols with enhanced security and performance [44.8840598334124]
  We develop hybrid protocols by which QKD and PQC inter-operate within a joint quantum-classical network. In particular, we consider different hybrid designs that may offer enhanced speed and/or security over the individual performance of either approach.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2024-11-02T00:02:01Z)
• Quantum-Secured Data Centre Interconnect in a field environment [38.4938584033229]
  Quantum key distribution (QKD) is an established quantum technology at a high readiness level. In this article, we present the successful implementation of a QKD field trial within a commercial data centre environment. The achieved average secret key rate of 2.392 kbps and an average quantum bit error rate of less than 2% demonstrate the commercial feasibility of QKD in real-world scenarios.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2024-10-14T08:05:25Z)
• Practical quantum secure direct communication with squeezed states [37.69303106863453]
  We report the first table-top experimental demonstration of a CV-QSDC system and assess its security.<n>This realization paves the way into future threat-less quantum metropolitan networks, compatible with coexisting advanced wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) systems.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2023-06-25T19:23:42Z)
• Experimental Demonstration of Sequential Multiparty Quantum Secret Sharing and Quantum Conference Key Agreement [5.666056657438205]
  Quantum secret sharing (QSS) and quantum conference key agreement (QCKA) provide efficient encryption approaches for multi-party secure communication. We present three practical, scalable, verifiable (k, n) threshold QSS protocols that are secure against eavesdroppers and dishonest players.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2023-02-22T03:59:15Z)
• Authentication of quantum key distribution with post-quantum cryptography and replay attacks [1.8476815769956565]
  Quantum key distribution (QKD) and post-quantum cryptography (PQC) are two cryptographic mechanisms with quantum-resistant security. We propose two protocols based on PQC to realize the full authentication of QKD data post-processing.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2022-06-02T17:29:34Z)
• Fast and Secure Routing Algorithms for Quantum Key Distribution Networks [5.659290426197763]
  We consider the problem of secure packet routing at the maximum achievable rate in Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) networks. We propose a new secure throughput-optimal policy called Tandem Queue Decomposition (TQD) We show that the TQD policy solves the problem of secure and efficient packet routing for a broad class of traffic, including unicast, broadcast, multicast, and anycast.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2021-09-16T12:29:41Z)
• Backflash Light as a Security Vulnerability in Quantum Key Distribution Systems [77.34726150561087]
  We review the security vulnerabilities of quantum key distribution (QKD) systems. We mainly focus on a particular effect known as backflash light, which can be a source of eavesdropping attacks.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2020-03-23T18:23:12Z)
• Agile and versatile quantum communication: signatures and secrets [0.7980685978549763]
  We demonstrate two quantum cryptographic protocols, quantum digital signatures (QDS) and quantum secret sharing (QSS) on the same hardware sender and receiver platform. This is the first proof-of-principle demonstration of an agile and versatile quantum communication system.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2020-01-27T21:11:18Z)

This list is automatically generated from the titles and abstracts of the papers in this site.

This site does not guarantee the quality of this site (including all information) and is not responsible for any consequences.